Lawrence Hayward

Lawrence
Background information
Birth name	Lawrence Hayward
Born	12 August 1961 (1961-08-12)
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genres	Post-punk, alternative rock, indie pop, jangle pop, gothic rock, glam rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Cherry Red, Creation, Boy's Own, Echo, EMIDISC, West Midlands Records
Associated acts	Felt, Denim, Go Kart Mozart

Lawrence Hayward (born 12 August 1961), known simply as Lawrence, his surname never used in credits or press, is best known as the singer, songwriter and guitarist of British alternative rock band Felt.

Felt

Felt released ten albums in the 1980s, and Lawrence was the only constant member of the band from its inception in 1979 to its dissolution in 1989, though he doesn't appear at all on the band's penultimate album, Train Above The City. During his time in the band, he served as lyricist and primary songwriter, though early on he shared songwriting credits with then-lead guitarist Maurice Deebank, who left the band in 1986.

Denim

After the dissolution of Felt, Lawrence formed Denim. Influenced by 1970s glam rock, Denim released two albums in the 1990s, plus a compilation of B-sides and extra tracks, but mainstream success continued to elude Lawrence. A third album, Denim Take Over, was shelved indefinitely.

Go Kart Mozart

1999 saw the full-length debut of Lawrence's current project, Go Kart Mozart, released through his personal imprint, West Midlands Records and distributed by Cherry Red. The 2005 follow-up was titled Tearing Up The Album Charts – a wry comment on his failure to achieve commercial success, a habit the album itself did nothing to break. UNCUT awarded Lawrence the dubious honour of being "one of the stars fame forgot"

Since August 2006, Lawrence has been working on a new Go Kart Mozart album.

Documentary

Filmmaker Paul Kelly directed a documentary about Lawrence, titled Lawrence of Belgravia (a reference both to the Englishman who led the Arab Revolt and the district of Central London in which Lawrence resides), which was set to premiere at the London Film Festival in 2006, but wasn't ready at the time. A 20-minute work-in-progress version of the documentary was screened at the Barbican Centre in London in November 2008. A final finished cut of the film had its debut screening at the 2011 London Film festival.

Personal life

Very little is known about Lawrence's background or personal life - even his last name has never been verified, since in official songwriting credits, only his first name is given.

He was born in Birmingham though moved as a child to Water Orton, a village close to the small north Warwickshire town of Coleshill, east of Birmingham. Early on he was heavily influenced by Tom Verlaine of Television in both his guitar-playing and his idiosyncratic vocals.

Discography

with Felt

• Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty (Cherry Red, 1981)
• The Splendour of Fear (Cherry Red, 1984)
• The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (Cherry Red, 1984)
• Ignite the Seven Cannons (Cherry Red, 1985)
• Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death (Creation Records, 1986)
• Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (Creation Records, 1986)
• Poem of the River (Creation Records, 1987)
• The Pictorial Jackson Review (Creation Records, 1988)
• Train Above the City (Creation Records, 1988)
• Me and a Monkey on the Moon (Cherry Red, 1989)
• Gold Mine Trash (Cherry Red, 1987)
• Bubblegum Perfume (Creation Records, 1990)
• Absolute Classic Masterpieces (Cherry Red, 1992)
• Absolute Classic Masterpieces Volume II (Creation Records, 1993)
• Stains on a Decade (Cherry Red, 2003)

with Denim

• Back in Denim (Boy's Own, 1992)
• Denim on Ice (Echo, 1996)
• Novelty Rock (EMIDISC, 1997)

with Go Kart Mozart

• Instant Wigwam and Igloo Mixture (West Midlands Records, 1999)
• Tearing Up The Album Charts (West Midlands Records, 2005)

External links

• Perfect Sound Forever interview (2003)