Kirsty Hawkshaw

Kirsty Hawkshaw
Background information
Born (1969-10-26) 26 October 1969
London, England
Genres Progressive house, electronica, house, drum and bass, trance, trip hop
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1991–present
Labels Coalition/EastWest, Mainline/EMI, Nettwerk, Magnatune
Associated acts Opus III, Pulusha, Warm
Website kirstyhawkshaw.co.uk

Kirsty Hawkshaw (born 26 October 1969) is an English electronic music vocalist and songwriter. In addition to her work as a solo artist, she is known as the lead vocalist of Opus III, and her collaborative work with other musicians and producers.

Career

Kirsty Hawkshaw is the daughter of the British production music/film music composer and disco record producer Alan Hawkshaw and his German- born wife, Christiane Bieberbach.[1]

At a rave in 1990 she was noticed by producers Ian Munro, Kevin Dodds and Nigel Walton, who at the time were known as A.S.K., an offshoot of The Spiral Tribe, who at the time was signed to MCA Records UK and had released a single called "Dream," when she was invited to appear on stage as their dancer. It was through this meeting that they would form a dance act called Opus III. Their first single, a cover version of the song "It's a Fine Day" from their debut album Mind Fruit was an international success and Top 10 hit on UK Singles Chart,[2] and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1992. A reversed sample of Hawkshaw's singing from this track was used in the Orbital track "Halcyon," the music video for which featured Hawkshaw. Opus III also had another US No. 1 hit on the same chart in 1994 with "When You Made The Mountain", from their second and final album, Guru Mother.

After the group broke up in 1994, Hawkshaw pursued a solo career and since then has been in demand by other acts in the dance, house, Eurodance, trance, and electronica community, ranging from Tiësto to Delerium to BT. In a 2009 interview, she later recalled her decision to end her association with Opus III, in which she felt that she did not want to be part of a "commercialized" act and wanted to go in a different direction, plus she was having internal problems with the band members over having more input in writing and production.

Her solo effort, "Fine Day", peaked at No. 62 in the UK Singles Chart in November 2002.[3]

On 10 October 2005, she released Meta-Message, a collection of older and newer songs, after a growing interest in her out of print album, O.U.T.. In early 2006, she appeared on the Fragma single "Radio Waves".

Hawkshaw also contributed a track titled "Telephone Song", to the children's album For the Kids Too!, released in 2004.

The record label, Magnatune, released her ambient album, The Ice Castle.

Collaborations

References

  1. ↑ The Champ (The Hawk Talks), Alan Hawkshaw autobiography, published 2011.
  2. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 408. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 246. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links

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