Richard Hawley

Richard Hawley (born Richard Willis Hawley, 17 January 1967, Sheffield, England) is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. After his first band, Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school), broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band The Longpigs in the 1990s. He later played with Pulp, led by his friend Jarvis Cocker.

ession work

After contributing to Nancy Sinatra's 2004 release, Hawley supported her on a European tour in 2005.

Praise from R.E.M.'s Mike Mills led to him being approached to support the group on several concert dates in 2005.

Hawley has also worked with artists including Hank Marvin, A Girl Called Eddy, Jarvis Cocker's Relaxed Muscle project and on Cocker's 2006 solo album. He played the guitar solo on All Saints cover of "Under the Bridge", and contributed guitar work on the Gwen Stefani song, "Wonderful Life" from her album, "The Sweet Escape".

Hawley occasionally gigs with The Feral Cats, a side project that enables him to explore his interest in rockabilly music.

In 1991 Hawley auditioned to be a guitarist in Morrissey's live band, but was rejected after he started singing "One Night" by Elvis Presley during his audition (to show he could do backing vocals). [ [http://richardhawleyforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=7571&highlight=morrissey Details from Richardhawleyforum.co.uk] ]

Hawley also makes an appearance in the 2007 film, "Flick" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0950749/ IMDb.com reference] ]

Most recently he is listed as 'Special Guest Star', contributing writing, guitar and vocals to 'The Fix', on Elbow's album 'The Seldom Seen Kid' released March 2008. He also performed the track live with Elbow during their performance at Glastonbury Festival 2008 and also on The Culture Show in June 2008.

olo career

It was an encounter at Hawley's Sheffield home that led the longtime collaborator out of the shadows. Impressed by a home demo of his songs, both Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey urged Hawley to head into the recording studio and begin work on his first solo release. 2000's eponymous mini album encouraged Hawley to return to the studio once more. In 2001 "Late Night Final", named after the cry of vendors selling the Sheffield Star evening newspaper on the streets of the city, was released to positive reviews from the press, if unspectacular sales. to enthuse about Hawley's work.

After the demise of Setanta Records in 2004 Hawley eventually signed to Mute Records, a division of EMI. Legal wrangling delayed "Coles Corner", Hawley's fourth release, until September 2005. Again Hawley mined the theme of his beloved home city, this time referencing the location where courting lovers meet. "Coles Corner" eventually gained a nomination for the Mercury Prize in 2006. Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, whose debut album won the prize, famously exclaimed 'Someone call 999, Richard Hawley's been robbed!'.

Hawley's 2007 album "Lady's Bridge" (again named with a Sheffield reference [ [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=sv&geocode=&q=lady's+bridge,+sheffield,+uk&ie=UTF8&ll=53.385766,-1.464137&spn=0.00206,0.005021&t=k&z=18&iwloc=addr&om=1 Maps.google.com map reference] ] - Lady's Bridge is in the centre of Sheffield] ) was released in the UK on 20 August 2007. The first single from the album was "Tonight The Streets Are Ours". He performed a 16 date tour during September 2007 to promote the album. Merchandising on the tour included the usual t-shirts and posters, but also special edition bottles of Henderson's Relish. The bottles featured the album's artwork, and a note to those unfamiliar with the relish that it gave extra flavour to meat, fish, soups, pies, casseroles and vegetables. Hawley previously used the relish to promote "Coles Corner".

Hawley provided vocals for "Bad Woman", a B-side to Arctic Monkeys' single, "Teddy Picker" released on 3 December 2007.

On the 14 January 2008, Hawley was nominated for his first solo Brit Award for Best British Male.

Hawley was a headline act at the 2008 Festival Internationale Benicassim ("FIB") in Spain. The crowd chanted his name repeatedly in between songs. Hawley claimed that it was the best festival audience he had ever played to.

Hawley has recently produced, with Colin Elliott, and contributed two songs to the album of songs by Sheffield based songwriters for Tony Christie, "Made in Sheffield."

Personal life

Fiercely proud of his working class upbringing, Hawley once described himself as "jurassic labour" in response to a question about the New Labour project. He lives in Sheffield, with his wife and children and is an avid Sheffield Wednesday supporter.

Discography

Albums

* "Richard Hawley" (Setanta) (2001)
* "Late Night Final" (Setanta) (2002)
* "Lowedges" (Setanta) (2003) #169 UK
* "Coles Corner" (Mute) (2005) #37 UK
* "Lady's Bridge" (Mute) (2007) #6 UK

ingles

; from "Richard Hawley":
* "Coming Home" (2001); from "Late Night Final":
* "Baby, You're My Light" (2002) #81 UK; from "Lowedges":
* "Run For Me" (2003) #186 UK; from "Coles Corner":
* "The Ocean" (2005) #102 UK
* ""Coles Corner" (2005) #146 UK
* "Just Like the Rain" (2006) #94 UK
* "Born Under A Bad Sign" (2006) #81 UK
* "Coles Corner" (re-issue) (2006) #136 UK
* "Hotel Room" (2006) #64 UK; from "Lady's Bridge":
* "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" (2007) #40 UK
* "Serious" (2007) #81 UK
* "Valentine" (2008) #134 UK
* "Lady's Bridge EP" (2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.richardhawley.co.uk/ Richard Hawley's official website]
* [http://richardhawleyforum.co.uk/ Hawleyboard Online Community] (Official message board where Hawley is a regular contributor)
* [http://www.mute.com/ Mute Records - Richard Hawley's record label]
* [http://comfortcomes.com/?page=reviews&id=1895 "Lady's Bridge" review]