Richard Hawley

Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967, Sheffield, England) is an English 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 Longpigs in the 1990s. After that group broke up in 2000, he later joined the band Pulp, led by his friend Jarvis Cocker, for a short time. As a solo musician, Hawley has released seven studio albums. Impressed by a home demo of his songs, both Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey (a former classmate from Hucklow Middle School) urged Hawley to record his first eponymous mini-album, released in 2000. 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. Two years later Hawley released Lowedges, named after a suburb of the city that the young Hawley had seen on the destination board of a bus. The NME called Lowedges the "first great album of 2003" and it topped an end-of-the-year poll held by Virgin Radio. Critical praise was widespread, leading many big names such as Coldplay, Radiohead and R.E.M. 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 - Lady's Bridge is in the centre of Sheffield) was released in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2007. 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 Sheffield-made Henderson's Relish. The bottles featured the album's artwork, and a note that it gave extra flavour to meat, fish, soups, pies, casseroles and vegetables. Hawley previously used the relish to promote Coles Corner. On 14 January 2008, Hawley was nominated for his first solo Brit Award for Best British Male Performer. Hawley was a headlining act at the 2008 Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in Spain. Hawley claimed that it was the best festival audience he had ever played to. Hawley recently produced, with Colin Elliot, and contributed two songs to the album Made in Sheffield, a compilation of songs by Sheffield-based songwriters for Tony Christie. Truelove's Gutter, Richard's sixth studio album, was released on Mute Records on 21 September 2009. The album was nominated for, and won the Mojo record of the year. His song "Don't Get Hung Up In Your Soul" was chosen as the Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week for 17 November 2009. and "Open Up Your Door" currently features as the soundtrack song to the Häagen-Dazs ice cream TV commercial in the UK. Hawley's track "Tonight The Streets Are Ours" was chosen as the title track for the Oscar nominated 2010 Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop which premièred at the Sundance Film Festival on 24 January 2010. "You And I" by Richard Hawley and The Death Ramps (AKA The Arctic Monkeys), has been released as the B-Side of The Arctic Monkeys' single "Black Treacle" on 23 January 2012. "Standing at the Sky's Edge" the 7th Hawley album was released in the UK on 7 May 2012 on the Parlophone record label. The first single, "Leave Your Body Behind You" is also available for download and will form part of the Singles Club releases Hawley intends for the coming months.