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Hazel O'Connor was
born in Coventry, England. The years before she shot to fame with
the film "Breaking Glass" were eventful to say the least
- see Hazel's autobiography "Hazel O' Connor Uncovered Plus -
Proteus Publishing Ltd. 1981 ISBN 0 906071 81 X for full details.
As Hazel wrote in the introduction note of the programme for a gig
at "At My Place" in Santa Monica, LA in 1989 "I ran
away from my home in Coventry when I was 16.....made and sold clothes
in Amsterdam, picked grapes in France, joined a dance troupe that
went to Tokyo then onto Beirut (escaping the start of the civil war
by one month!) traveled West Africa, crossed the Sahara, sang with
a dreadful singing trio for the U.S. troops in Germany and came home
to "settle down". Through all this experience of life and
the world I realized that singing always cheered me up. I decided
to be a singer. Through strange turns of fate I ended up in a film
called 'Breaking Glass' I also ended up writing all the songs for
the movie"
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In 1980, her performance as Kate in
Breaking Glass won Hazel the Variety Club of Great Britain Award for
'Best Film Actor' and BAFTA nominations for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best
Film Score.' The album of the same name went Gold and was number 5
in the UK charts for 28 weeks and produced several hit singles, the
most successful being the haunting 'Will You'
Subsequent albums include Sons and Lovers, Cover Plus, Smile, Live
and Kicking in LA, To Be Freed, Over The Moon.....Live, Private Wars
and Five in the Morning. Legal battles plagued Hazel from the early
1980's - in her own words "I became famous, then had a load of
court battles to fight against my first record company, I was ripped
off, torn up and spat out by the machinery of 'Showbiz'" However,
despite the hassles, Hazel continued to record and to play live, touring
the UK, Ireland, Europe and the USA with her band, and continuing
her career as an actor.
She has made numerous TV appearances, starring in Jangles on British
television and in 1986 playing the lead role of Vivienne in the critically
acclaimed Fighting Back. She also played a singer in an episode of
Prospects on Channel 4.
Her theatre work includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Royal
Exchange, Manchester, Nightshoot at the Tricycle Theatre, London,
Girlfriends at the Playhouse, London, Swing Out Sister, her own production,
at the Riverside Studio, London,The Raven Beckons at the Riverbank
Theatre, Dublin and The Cuchulain Cycle at the Riverside Studio, London
Hazel now lives happily in Ireland. |
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Phone Mike
01269 597118
for Availability
Pages
in Memory
Lonnie Donegan
1933-2002
Tim Rose
1940-2002 |
