Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''.

Career

O'Connor was born in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She is the daughter of a soldier from

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

who settled in England after the Second World War to work in a car plant. Her brother Neil later fronted the punk band The Flys, best known for their single "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", which she later

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

. Her film debut was in '' Girls Come First'' in 1975, where she was credited as Hazel Glyn. She became prominent as an actress and singer five years later in 1980 when playing the role of Kate in the film '' Breaking Glass''. She also performed on the accompanying soundtrack. Her performance as Kate won her the

Variety Club of Great Britain Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

Award for 'Best Film Actress'. She was also nominated for the

BAFTA Award for Best Film Music The BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, is a film award that is presented to film composers by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It has been presented annually at the B ...

. The film's soundtrack album featured songs written and performed by O'Connor and reached number 5 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. It had a 38-week chart run and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Several tracks from the album were released as singles, the most successful being "Eighth Day" and "Will You" (with a notable saxophone solo by Wesley Magoogan) which both reached the UK Top 10. When O'Connor toured the UK to promote the album, the opening act were a then-unknown group called

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

. It was the band's first opportunity to play to large audiences throughout the UK and gave them the exposure they needed to secure a recording contract. Subsequent albums released by O'Connor included '' Sons and Lovers'' (which featured the UK Top 10 hit single "D-Days"), '' Cover Plus'', ''Smile'', ''Private Wars'' and ''Five in the Morning''. O'Connor also collaborated with other artists, and made appearances in the video for

Mick Karn Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was a British musician who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. His distinctive fretles ...

's "The Sound Of Waves" and a cameo appearance in the 1983

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British New wave music, new wave duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band t ...

video " Who's That Girl?". O'Connor donated her songwriting talents to Greenpeace First International Record Project released worldwide in 1985 as a response to the French bombing and subsequent sinking of the '' Rainbow Warrior''. Her duet song "Push and Shove" with Chris Thompson leads off the second act of the album and accompanying video. She has made numerous television appearances, starring in ''Jangles'' on British television and in 1986 playing the lead role of Vivienne in ''Fighting Back'' as well as singing the theme tune. She also played a singer in an episode of ''Prospects'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 1986 alongside former ''Breaking Glass'' co-star Gary Olsen, resulting in the release of a spin-off single "Today Could Be So Good" . For a time she was interested in becoming a member of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement, and starred in a 60-minute film about her relationship with the Krishnas titled ''Persuaders'' which was broadcast by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in December 1985. Her theatre work included '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, ''Nightshoot'' at the Tricycle Theatre, London, ''Girlfriends'' at the Playhouse, London, ''Swing Out Sister'', her own production, at the Riverside Studio, London, ''The Raven Beckons'' at the Riverbank Theatre, Dublin and ''The Cuchulain Cycle'' at the Riverside Studio, London. In 1997 she recorded the studio album ''Five in the Morning'' with record producer, co-writer and guitarist, Gerard Kiely. The album included the song "Na Na Na". A

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

, ''Live in Berlin'', followed. The turn of the century saw O'Connor tell her life story in a touring show entitled ''Beyond Breaking Glass'', with harpist Cormac de Barra. The show was a hit at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in 1998 and toured Ireland and the UK, the Netherlands (twice), Australia and Canada. She signed to Invisible Hands Music in 2002; this triggered a run of new releases and of deluxe re-issues of her 1990s work. A commercially available reincarnation of the previously

mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

''Beyond the Breaking Glass'' was followed by a previously unreleased acoustic concert, ''Acoustically Yours''. In 2003, Invisible Hands Music released O'Connor's first-ever official best of compilation, ''A Singular Collection'', which brought together her early hits from the Albion days, mid career work at RCA, and the best of the latter, DIY era. To add something new to the best of compilation, O'Connor recorded a cover of her friend

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

's hit "One More Try", with a band that included drummer Carlos Hercules, who at the time was playing for

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

and

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke ...

. Hercules joined George Michael's band in 2006. The track was released as a single, and generated extensive airplay and renewed interest in O'Connor—the following year saw her perform at the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

. ''Hidden Heart'', produced by Martin Rushent and including duets with Maire Brennan and Rob Reynolds, was released in the UK in 2006, and her 1984 album ''Smile'' was reissued on CD in 2008. In 2008, O'Connor performed for the second time at the

, playing an acoustic set on the Avalon stage. In 2009, O'Connor performed as part of the '1980s Here and Now' tour at many venues including Wembley Arena. She continued to tour extensively with her own solo projects, 'Beyond the Breaking Glass' and 'Bluja Project'. In 2009 she was awarded her own star on Coventry's 'Walk of Fame'. In September 2010, O'Connor performed in France with The Bluja Project featuring Clare Hirst and Sarah Fisher, and in Ireland in October with Cormac de Barra. She then performed 'Breaking Glass Live' throughout England, culminating in a show at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 5 December 2010.

Personal life

O'Connor married artist Kurt Bippert in 1987. The ceremony took place on Venice Beach,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It received coverage by '' Hello!'' magazine. The actor David Rappaport was

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...

, and Dave Wakeling from The Beat gave O'Connor away. Bippert and O'Connor divorced in 2000. She had previously dated

Hugh Cornwell Hugh Alan Cornwell (born 28 August 1949) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the punk rock and new wave band the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English ro ...

and

Midge Ure James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...

. O'Connor is a vegetarian. O'Connor currently divides her time between living in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and France. She is friends with BBC Radio London host JoAnne Good and singer

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 ...

, whom she narrowly beat for the lead role in ''Breaking Glass''. On 17 January 2022, O'Connor's brother Neil published a statement on her website, saying she was currently recovering from "a serious medical event" on 9 January 2022 at her house in France. She had been taken to hospital where it was determined that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage and was put into an induced coma for 24 hours.

Career

Personal life

Discography

Filmography

Books

References

External links