Hazel O'Connor
with Cormac De Barra (Harp, Bodhrain)
& Ruairí de Barra (Guitar, Whistles & Percussion).

HAZEL O'CONNOR: - Hidden Heart Tour
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Hazel O'Connor returns in 2005 with a brand new studio album 'Hidden Heart' and a national UK tour. The album is perhaps her most intimate work to date. She writes from the heart, she performs from the heart and she touches your heart. Her husky voice remains charged with passion and her enthusiasm and love of music, never mind wicked sense of humour, is ever present.

Hazel's inspiration for writing Hidden Heart came from reading Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book The Little Prince. Here, the fox tells the Little Prince a secret …. we can only see what is true with our hearts. Hazel took us through and beyond the broken glass - now its time to get up close and personal and so the journey continues… This is the story of the new album Hidden Heart

Hazel has teamed up once again with celebrated harpist Cormac De Barra, in a unique music marriage her latest album combines Hazel's unique and unforgettable voice with the musicianship of Cormac. Cormac has been performing with Hazel since 1998 and they immediately formed a strong bond with each other, after their first project, which was the autobiographical show, 'Beyond Breaking Glass'. Dubbed "the highlight of the Edinburgh Festival. They have since travelled the world together performing.

The album contains 12 songs from the beautifully haunting 'I'll See You Again' to 'Who Will Care', written about a friend who suffered a heroin overdose. Also includes three duets, one with Moya Brennan (the voice of Clannad), another with Tony Dangerfield of The Subterraneans as well as the fantastic 'Tell Me Why', which is sung with label mate Rob Reynolds.

The album has been produced by Martin Rushent (Human League, Stranglers, Buzzcocks), and is a culmination of all her work to date - the quality of songs and musicianship confirms and exceeds what one would expect of this brilliant performer.

Hazel and Cormac are joined on stage by multi-talented Ruairí de Barra on guitar, whistles and percussion - together they will reach into the very depths of your soul, thereby ensuring there is not a hidden heart in the house.

HAZEL O'CONNOR: Biography.
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Born in Coventry, England, Hazel O'Connor had a story to tell long before she hit the headlines as the first major female star of the 80s. She left home at 16, lived in a squat in Amsterdam, travelled to Morocco then headed across the pole to Japan where she worked as a dancer. Next stop was Beirut in the Lebanon, to dance at The Crazy Horse. However civil war broke out and she was forced to leave. She travelled from West Africa, overland, crossing the Sahara desert, to North Africa, finally getting back to London and wondered what to do with the rest of her life - well she was 21 now! Inspired by her older brother Neil O'Connor and the punk movement, she decided to try her hand at singing and song-writing "because singing made me happy" she said.

She was picked by director Brian Gibson to star in the film Breaking Glass, alongside Phil Daniels, Jim Broadbent and Jonathan Price. She won the Variety Club of Great Britain's 1980 Film Actress Of The Year award and was also nominated for Best Newcomer. Hazel wrote and performed all the songs for the film and the best-selling album (produced by Tony Visconti) was also nominated for the Best Film Soundtrack BAFTA. Breaking Glass was Dodi Fayed's first film as an executive producer.

Her next album Sons and Lovers spawned the hit Decadent Days (aka D-Days). When she performed the song on Top Of The Pops, she shocked the nation when she stripped down to her black bra and miniskirt. In spite of the hit singles and sold out concert tours, storm clouds were gathering as the contracts that Hazel had signed with her label and publisher were fundamentally flawed and despite the millions of records sold, Hazel was headed for bankruptcy.

Ever the survivor, she turned to her other talent, acting, and starred in the BBC drama series "Fighting Back", co-starring with Derek Thompson, of Casualty fame, who was also member of the Breaking Glass cast. The series received rave reviews and Hazel left on a high to live in Los Angeles. She married, continued her career in the States but, at the beginning of the 90s, after a skin cancer scare, moved to the home of her forefathers, Ireland, where she remains based to this day.

In the early 90s, she signed a new deal to Sony Germany and recorded the albums To Be Free, Over The Moon, and Private Wars, which were successful in Germany, France and throughout the European continent. When the Sony deal expired, Hazel decide to take control of her life and recorded the Live In Berlin album followed by a new studio album, Five In The Morning. After the last big band tour in 1998 to promote Five In The Morning, bass player and good pal, Herbie Flowers (Sky, Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side) encouraged her to tell her life story in a show. "Go to the Edinburgh Fringe" he urged; and thus, Beyond Breaking Glass, the show, was born. Working with celebrated Irish harpist Cormac De Barra, the show played to critical acclaim all over Europe as well as USA and Australia. Out of the show, came the album.

Now, finally Hazel had taken control of every aspect of her career: doing the artwork, selling the CDs, booking gigs and driving the van. Once again, years ahead of the pack as now more and more big name artists take the same self-empowering route. Various other continents now beckon with requests for live performances, currently, South Africa and Canada.

Hazel linked up with Invisible Hands Music, whose policy of artistic freedom made a good match, reissued her 90s DIY albums at the end of 2002 and her first-ever best of, A Singular Collection, at the end of 2003. March 2004 saw the release of her first single for close on a decade - a cover of George Michael's One More Try.

In 2004 Hazel got together with Coventry homeboys The Subterraneans to bring a melding of her superb vocals with soaring sax, guitars, bass and drums - the full band sound. Breaking Glass territory meets Hazel's Celtic Soul Beat roots. A live DVD (Eighth Day - Live In Brighton) was recorded and released by Snapper on 28 March 2005. If all that wasn't enough, she also found time to fit in a short tour with award-winning Irish harpist Cormac De Barra in the early summer of 2004.

These are mere snippets of Hazel's incredible life, which she is preparing to put down on paper. It is expected that her autobiography will be written over the coming year and be ready for publication at the beginning of 2006.

Working with producer Martin Rushent (Human League, Stranglers, Buzzcocks), her new eagerly awaited studio album HIDDEN HEART was released at the end of May. The album is a culmination of all her work to date - the quality of songs and musicianship confirms and exceeds what one would expect of this brilliant performer.

What's in the future? Hazel O'Connor is a genuine artist and songwriter and she will continue to write, perform and travel, working with the wonderful musicians around her and maintain her firm grip on the steering wheel. This maverick's profile will continue to rise.

"This is a singer that transcends all the years and she is as good now, as she was then."
- George Jones BBC Radio Ulster

www.hazeloconnor.com