Richard Hawley

Writing and singing songs largely based on and around the people and places of his hometown of Sheffield, Richard Hawley has established a highly distinguished niche as a social commentator. Born on 17 January 1967 in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, as an accomplished guitarist, he joined his first band Treebound Story while still at school, but made his first real dent in the public consciousness with the Longpigs during the Britpop boom of the 1990s. He later joined his long-time friends Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey in Pulp before launching his solo career with the Late Night Final album in 2001. He followed it in 2003 with Lowedges, a title referring to a suburb of Sheffield, that won widespread critical acclaim and underlined his commitment to creating lush vignettes depicting everyday life in the city. The album Coles Corner was even more poignant and successful, winning the 2006 Mercury Music Prize and turning the self-effacing Richard Hawley into a major star. His sixth album Truelove's Gutter (2009) continued the themes of melancholy and colourful characterisations that have served him so well. In 2015, he released the album Standing at the Sky's Edge followed by Hollow Meadows in 2017 and Further in May 2019. Once again turning to his beloved Sheffield for inspiration, the follow-up to Further arrived in May 2024, In This City They Call You Love, driven by the single "Two For His Heels" and Richard Hawley's award-winning storytelling.