Michael Edward Hazlewood^[1] (24 December 1941^[2] – 6 May 2001)^[3] was a British singer-songwriter and composer. He variously worked with Albert Hammond, T-Bone Burnett, Van Dyke Parks and Harry Nilsson.^[4]

Biography

Educated at Hazelwick School, in Crawley, West Sussex, Hazlewood began his career as a DJ at the radio station Radio Luxembourg in the early 1960s. In 1966, he founded the group the Family Dogg with Albert Hammond and Steve Rowland.^[5] In addition, he often wrote songs in collaboration with Hammond such as "Green Green Trees", "Little Arrows" for Leapy Lee,^[6] and "Gimme Dat Ding" for the Pipkins.^[7] Hammond and Hazlewood wrote "The Air That I Breathe" which was originally released by Hammond in 1972, and then on Phil Everly's 1973 solo album Star Spangled Springer.^[8] The song was subsequently a huge hit for the Hollies.^[9]

Hazlewood's collaboration with Hammond resulted in co-written songs for the latter such as "It Never Rains in Southern California"^[10] and "The Free Electric Band".^[3][11]

Hazlewood and Hammond also wrote the international hit song "Make Me an Island" for the Irish singer Joe Dolan in 1969,^[12] as well as his follow-up singles, "Teresa"^[13] and "You're Such a Good Looking Woman".^[14] The latter became a signature hit for Dolan, topping the Irish charts twice, in 1970 and 1997 when he re-recorded it with Dustin the Turkey. Hazlewood also wrote the song "Southern Lady", which was recorded by Rita Coolidge.^[15]

During the late 1980s, Hazlewood held the theatrical rights to Mervyn Peake's novel Mr. Pye, and completed a musical theatre version of the book in collaboration with Howard Lee Sloan, the American-born pianist and composer.

Hazlewood and Hammond are also credited as co-writers of the 1992 Radiohead song, "Creep". Due to similarities to "The Air That I Breathe", Radiohead was successfully sued for plagiarism.^[16][17] "Creep" used a chord progression taken from "The Air That I Breathe" in its verse, and a melody from the latter in the bridge following the second chorus.^[18]

On 6 May 2001, Hazlewood died aged 59 from a heart attack, during his holiday in Florence, Italy.^[4]

References