More Info on Hazel O'ConnorSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
BLP sources|date=April 2010Infobox musical artist| name = Hazel O'Connor| Born = birth date and age|df=y|1955|5|16, Coventry , England | image =| caption = | image_size =| background = solo_singer| occupation = Singer-songwriter , actress | genre = New Wave music|New Wave , Alternative rock|alternative , Folk music|folk , New age music|new age | associated_acts=| website = URL|www.hazeloconnorofficial.com'''Hazel O'Connor''' (born 16 May 1955,Allmusic | class = artist | id = p110545 | tab = biography | label = Biography of Hazel O'Connor | first = Steve | last = Leggett | accessdate = September 2009 Coventry , England ) is an United Kingdom|English singer-songwriter and actress . She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit single s "Eighth Day", "D-Days" and "Will You", as well as starring in the film Breaking Glass .
Career
O'Connor had her film debut in Girls Come First , in 1975.imdb title|id=0187065|title=Girls Come First
She became prominent as an actress five years later in 1980 when playing the role of Kate in the critically acclaimed film Breaking Glass , and its accompanying soundtrack .
In 1989, in the programme introduction note for a concert|gig at the Santa Monica venue "At My Place", in Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles , she wrote:
Quote|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) travelled West Africa , crossed the Sahara , sang with a dreadful singing Trio (music)|trio for the United States|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. Her performance as Kate won her 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 double platinum, reaching number 5 in the UK Albums Chart with a 28 week stay and produced several chart-topper|hit single (music)|singles , the most successful being the haunting "Will You", and "Eighth Day". When O'Connor toured the UK in support of Breaking Glass the album, she selected as her opening act a then-unknown local group from Birmingham called Duran Duran . It was the band's first opportunity to play to large audiences throughout the UK and gave them the exposure they needed to secure a recording contract (with EMI ).
Subsequent albums for O'Connor include Sons and Lovers (which featured the hit single "D Days"), Cover Plus , Smile , Private Wars and Five in the Morning . "D Days" was inspired by a trip to a night club in London's West End where O'Connor met a lot of bizarre looking people. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php? id=15778 D Days Songfacts O'Connor made a cameo appearance in the 1983 Eurythmics video, " Who's That Girl? (Eurythmics song)|Who's That Girl? ", alongside other stars of the time: Bananarama , Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston of Bucks Fizz (band)|Bucks Fizz , Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee and gender-bending pop star Marilyn (singer)|Marilyn .
During the 1980s she was popular in Hungary and performed a live concert in Budapest in 1985. Some members of the crowd had to be restrained as she politely told them that she had other material apart from the songs from Breaking Glass.Citation needed|date=August 2011 O'Connor donated her songwriting talents to Greenpeace|Greenpeace First International Record Project released worldwide in 1985 as a response to the French bombing and subsequent sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (1955)|Rainbow Warrior . Her duet song Push and Shove with Chris Thompson leads off the second act of the album and accompanying video.
She has made numerous Television|TV appearances, starring in Jangles on British television and in 1986 playing the lead role of Vivienne in Fighting Back as well as singing the theme tune. She also played a singer in an episode of Prospects on Channel 4 in 1986 resulting in the release of two spin off singles alongside former Breaking Glass actor Gary Olsen .
Her theatre work included '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)|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.
In 1997 she recorded the recording studio|studio album , Five in the Morning with record producer , co-writer and guitarist , Gerard Kiely. The album included "Na Na Na", which generated a lot of Airplay (radio)|airplay in the United Kingdom|UK , especially in Scotland .Citation needed|date=September 2009 A live album , Live in Berlin , followed.
The turn of the century saw O'Connor tell her life story in an autobiography|autobiographical touring show entitled Beyond Breaking Glass , with harpist , Cormac De Barra . The show was a hit at the Edinburgh fringe festival and toured the UK, the Netherlands (twice), Australia and Canada .
In 2002 she signed to Invisible Hands Music, which triggered a run of new releases and deluxe re-issues of her 1990s work. A commercially available reincarnation of the previously mail-order Beyond the Breaking Glass was followed by a previously unreleased acoustic concert, Acoustically Yours . In 2003 Five In The Morning and Live In Berlin were repackaged with new photos and liner notes.
In 2003 Invisible Hands Music released O'Connor's first-ever official best of compilation album|compilation , A Singular Collection , which brought together her early hits from the Albion days, mid career work at RCA, and the best of the latter, DIY era. To add something new to the best of compilation, O'Connor recorded a cover version|cover of her friend George Michael 's hit, "One More Try", with a band (music)|band that included drummer Carlos Hercules, who at the time was playing for AnnieLennox and Beverly Knight . Hercules joined George Michael's band in 2006. The track was released as a single, and generated extensive airplay and renewed interest in O'Connor - the following year saw her perform at the Glastonbury Festival .
June 2005 saw the UK release of Hidden Heart , produced by Martin Rushent and including duet (music)|duets with Moya Brennan and Rob Reynolds (musicians)|Rob Reynolds ; with 2008 seeing the Compact disc|CD re-issue of her 1984 album, Smile .
In 2008 O'Connor performed for the second time at the Glastonbury Festival playing an acoustic set on the Avalon stage.
In 2009 O'Connor performed as part of the '1980s Here and Now' tour at many venues including Wembley Arena, for which she received positive reviews.Citation needed|date=September 2009 She continued to tour extensively with her own solo projects, 'Beyond the Breaking Glass' and 'Bluja Project'. In 2009 she was awarded her own star on Coventry's 'Walk of Fame'.
In September 2010, O'Connor performed in France with The Bluja Project featuring Clare Hirst and Sarah Fisher, and in Ireland in October with Cormac De Barra. She then performed 'Breaking Glass Live' throughout England, cluminating in a show at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 5 December 2010.
Personal life
O'Connor married artist Kurt Bippert in 1987. The ceremony took place on Venice Beach, California , and was covered by Hello! magazine. The actor David Rappaport was Groomsman|Best man , and Dave Wakeling from The Beat (band)|The Beat gave O'Connor away. They divorced in 2000.
O'Connor used to date Hugh CornwellHugh Cornwell's autobiography A Mutitude of Sins and Midge UreMidge Ure's autobiography, If I Was .
O'Connor's brother Neil fronted the punk rock|punk band The Flys, best known for their single "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" - later covered by Hazel O'Connor.
O'Connor is a vegetarian .cite web | url= http://www.vegsoc.org/vegmag/Hazel%20O_11.pdf | format= PDF | title= Last Word - Hazel O'Connor | publisher= Vegetarian Society | work= The Vegetarian magazine | year= 2003 |accessdate= 2007-11-18
O'Connor currently divides her time between living in Republic of Ireland|Ireland and France . She is friends with BBC Radio London host Joanne Good .
| first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 403
"Push and Shove" (1985) with Chris Thompson (English musician)|Chris Thompson
"Fighting Back" (1986)
"Today Could Be So Good" (1986)
"We Tried Boy (Didn't We? )" (1986)
"And I Dream" (1987) with David Easter )
"Heat of the Night" (1990)
"My Friend Jack" (1993)
"Tell Me Why" (1993)
"Na, Na, Na" (1998)
"One More Try" (2004)
"I'll See You Again" / "Hidden" (2005) with Moya Brennan )
"(World Stops) Spinning Without You" (2010) with The Subterraneans
Also featured on:
" Let It Be (Ferry Aid song)|Let It Be " ( MS Herald of Free Enterprise|Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster charitable organization|charity ensemble) (#1 UK) (1987)
"The Wishing Well" ( Great Ormond Street Hospital charity ensemble) (#22 UK) (1987)
"Rap Against Rape (What Did I Do Wrong)" ("Jocks & Co" charity single) (#16 IE) (1990)
Use dmy dates|date=August 2010 Persondata | NAME =Oconnor, Hazel | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =16 May 1955 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Hazel Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:British people of Irish descent Category:English female singers Category:English actors Category:People from Coventry Category:Music in Coventry Category:Female New Wave singers
