Early Life and Background
Hawkins was born in Chertsey, Surrey, and grew up in Lowestoft, near Oulton Broad. He studied at Kirkley High School; he left part-way through his 'A' Levels to study Music Technology at Huddersfield Technical College while living in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax, West Yorkshire. His brother Dan was the lead guitarist of Stone Gods.
Before his success with The Darkness, Hawkins was known for writing and singing the "Schlomp" advert jingle for Ikea.
Hawkins is an accomplished lead guitarist, which he would occasionally display while performing with the Darkness, particularly in b-side song Bareback. However, his potential as a frontman was recognised by his brother when he did an impressive recreation of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" at a New Year's Eve party in 1999, despite the fact that Hawkins was only miming to the original song. Hawkins fully developed his love of rock music while playing with the now defunct heavy metal band The Commander (Justin "Turbo" Hawkins, Rico Musson, Shaggy Forley, David "Growy" Owens, Jim Lee & Richard "Beaky" Bedford). They are affectionately credited on The Darkness' debut album Permission to Land.
Read more about this topic: Justin Hawkins
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early, life and/or background:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“the cluttered eyes
of early mysterious night.”
—Imamu Amiri Baraka (b. 1934)
“You have nothing more to fear. Not death nor decay. Here in this cup is my gift of life to you. I’m going to make you immortal. And I, too, shall drink and be immortal. We will not return to Egypt. Our world shall be wide, our time shall be without end. Has any man before offered a gift of eternal life to his bride?”
—Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Yousef Bey (John Carradine)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)