Lawrence (musician)

Lawrence
Lawrence Hayward (with Mozart Estate) in concert at the Paris Popfest at the Le Hasard Ludique in Paris in 2022
Background information
Birth name	Lawrence Hayward
Born	Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Genres	Indie pop jangle pop post-punk glam rock synthpop
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Cherry Red, Creation, Boy's Own, Echo, West Midlands Records

Lawrence Hayward, known mononymously as Lawrence, is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is known as the frontman in the English indie pop bands Felt, Denim, and Mozart Estate (formerly Go-Kart Mozart).

Music career

Felt

Main article: Felt (band)

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, despite being present at the recording sessions. During his time in the band, he served as lyricist and co-songwriter, together with then-lead guitarist Maurice Deebank, who left the band in 1985.

Denim

Main article: Denim (band)

After the dissolution of Felt, Lawrence formed Denim. Influenced lyrically by Lawrence's upbringing during the 1970s and stylistically by bubblegum and 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album (sometimes referred to as Denim Take Over) was shelved indefinitely, and a standalone single "Summer Smash" was withdrawn from being released shortly after the death of Princess Diana. Lawrence co-wrote the first single by Shampoo, "Blisters and Bruises", released in 1993.

Go-Kart Mozart and Mozart Estate

Main article: 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 Chart – 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."

In 2006, Lawrence began working on a new Go-Kart Mozart album entitled On the Hot Dog Streets that was eventually released in June 2012 to coincide with the nationwide premiere of Lawrence of Belgravia, which documented the making of the record.

Documentary & book

Filmmaker Paul Kelly directed a documentary about Lawrence, titled Lawrence of Belgravia (a reference both to the Welshman who led the Arab Revolt and the district of Central London in which Lawrence resided), 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, followed by screenings in several film and music festivals.

In 2024 it was announced that a book about Lawrence, titled Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence, was being published by Nine Eight books. Written by the UK journalist Will Hodgkinson, the book recounts a year in the life of Lawrence - following on from Hodgkinson's earlier full-length cover feature and interview with Lawrence in the Idler magazine.

Personal life

Due to his reclusive public persona, Lawrence has given very little information away about his personal life, aside from the fact that he was born at 12 Melville Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham, as referred to in the Felt song "Mobile Shack", though moved as a child to the nearby village of Water Orton, Warwickshire, where he met founding Felt members Maurice Deebank and Nick Gilbert. Early on he was heavily influenced by Tom Verlaine of Television in both his guitar-playing and his idiosyncratic vocals. He currently lives in a tower block close to the Old Street Roundabout in Hackney, London.

In 2018, Lawrence was awarded Maverick of the Year at the Q Awards. In 2024, a Portuguese pink marble bust of Lawrence, sculpted by artist Corin Johnson, was exhibited at the Fitzrovia Chapel in London.

Discography

with Felt

• Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty (1982)
• The Splendour of Fear (1984)
• The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (1984)
• Ignite the Seven Cannons (1985)
• Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death (1986)
• Forever Breathes the Lonely Word (1986)
• Poem of the River (1987)
• Gold Mine Trash (1987)
• The Pictorial Jackson Review (1988)
• Train Above the City (1988)
• Me and a Monkey on the Moon (1989)
• Bubblegum Perfume (1990)
• Absolute Classic Masterpieces (1992)
• Absolute Classic Masterpieces Volume II (1993)
• Stains on a Decade (2003)

with Denim

• Back in Denim (1992)
• Denim on Ice (1996)
• Novelty Rock (1997)

with Go-Kart Mozart

• Instant Wigwam and Igloo Mixture (1999)
• Tearing Up the Album Chart (2005)
• On the Hot Dog Streets (2012)
• Mozart's Mini-Mart (2018)

with Mozart Estate

• Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! and the Possibilities of Modern Shopping (2023)

External links

• Perfect Sound Forever interview (2003)