Kaz Hawkins is a blues and soul singer-songwriter, radio presenter, public speaker and mental health activist born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and now living in France.
Early life
Hawkins was born and grew up in Belfast. She enjoyed singing at church, and was influenced by her grandmother singing at home. In her youth, she auditioned for the television showOpportunity Knocks where the musical director told her grandmother to let her listen to Etta James. She suffered abuse by a relative aged 4–12 which she kept a secret from the rest of her family until she revealed the extent of it following an attempted suicide decades later. To cope with the distress, she self-harmed. After her recovery she covered the cuts with tattoos. She attempted sitting in a bath full of bleach in an attempt to "cleanse" herself. She moved to Spain and began DJing and singing in clubs, but became addicted to cocaine and suffered domestic violence from an abusive relationship, which ended after the police were called when she returned home. Following this, she regained custody of her children and began to form the songs from the poems she had been writing in her journals. She picked up an acoustic guitar in 2011 and now uses in her shows to aid mental health awareness.
Career
Hawkins sang in cover bands for 20 years in order to earn an income and support her family, before she began creating original material. She began songwriting as a cathartic exercise after surviving alcoholism and depression. She was approached to appear on Britain's Got Talent but pulled out of the show during the audition process. She has released three studio albums, two EPs, one live album and a compilation album exclusively on vinyl. In 2017, she began presenting a blues show on BBC Radio Ulster, "Kaz Hawkins Got The Blues". produced by Ralph McLean. She is also Ambassador & honorary member of The UK Blues Federation. She is also an avid supporter of mental health awareness and was an ambassador from 2017-2019 for Aware NI, where she wrote & donated a song called "Don't Slip Away" to help with Youth Suicide in Northern Ireland. She has been called the "one-woman mental health musician".
Awards
Hawkins won the 2018 for Northern Ireland Blues Act of the Year at the UK Blues Awards and she was a Nominee in 4 Categories – Female Vocalist/Songwriter/Personality and Northern Ireland Blues Act of the Year. She was the most played artist of 2017 IBBA Winner at the European Blues Challenge 2017. She was a Semi-Finalist in the International Blues Challenge, Memphis, 2017 Hawkins won the Album Of The Year award in the 2016 IBBA CHARTS Winner – 3rd UK Blues Challenge 2016 She was Runner Up in the British Blues Awards for Female Vocalist 2016, winner at the Pure M Awards for Best Video 2016 for "This Is Me". In 2015, she received the Barry Middleton Memorial Award for Emerging Artist at the British Blues Awards. The same she won all Ireland "Best Female at the Pure M Awards in a triple win of awards She has also been a nominee in the NI Music Prize in 2014 and 2015.
