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.
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