Interview: Kingston's 80s pop star Hazell Dean gears up for Rewind festival

Combining high tempo disco music with electronic dance, Hazell was one of the leading lights of the Hi-NRG music genre in the 80s, taking inspiration from songs like Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

Her smash hit Searchin' (Gotta Find A Man) became a global chart success, as well as a massive anthem in clubs.

Hazell, who lives in Kingston, went on to score the first top 5 single for Stock, Aitken & Waterman with Whatever I Do, and then had a succession of hits  including Who's Leaving Who, Maybe and Turn It Into Love.

Since then, she's been busy producing her own records, and also writing and producing songs for others.

And now, this summer, she's bringing a high energy feel to this year's 80s Rewind Festivals, and will be performing at Rewind South in Henley-upon-Thames on August 20th.

She said: "I'm really looking forward to Rewind. I performed at Rewind last year in South Africa and that was fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing Andy Bell perform, and of course Rick Astley who I've worked with on plenty of occasions.

"I'm also can't wait to see the lovely Jimmy Somerville of course, and Toyah who I know very well."

Hazell believes the 80s revival is so successful because the decade symbolised happier times, and also was an era of such diverse genres.

"For me, the 80s is the last decade of what I call real pop songs," she said.

"Even back in 1989 the music trends were changing, along with records like Ride on Time (Black Box). It was that record that made me think, now that is really different. From then on, it all sort of changed.

"I think that the 80s was that period of time when people were happier perhaps, a time when things were easier, happier. Maybe that's got something to do with it."

It was in the early 80s when Hazell first burst onto the scene, helped to establish a new type of Hi-NRG music, with more electronic beats than before. When her song Searchin' was re-released in 1984, it quickly became a hughsuccess.

She said: "In those days, the American version of Hi-NRG was called Boy Town, because it came out of the gay clubs.

"But then when I heard Searchin in 1982, when I first recorded it, it was so different. It was just so fresh sounding and new and I really really liked it.

"Searchin' was a massive gay hit long before I ever walked onto the stage at Heaven in 1983. It had been no 1 in the gay charts for five weeks."

She added: "Over the years, we have done different remixes of it. It's not the original mix that I do now because I try to keep everything up-to-date as much as I can."

Hazell has also had a long relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest, performing as a backing singer twice and also entering the Song for Europe on two other occasions.

"One time I had a song in the last 8 in A Song For Europe," she said. "We didn't win, but it was actually because of that, that we re-released Searchin in 1984.

"It had been deleted but it was always in absolute demand. It's funny how something that didn't work helped with the next step!"

As well as performing her old hits like Searchin', Hazell is also very much still in the music scene.

She signed with dance label Energise Records a couple of years ago, and as well as producing and writing most of her own albums, she is also set to release a new single shortly.

"I have a new single coming out from my last album," she said. "It's a track I had a lot of club success with back in the 80s,  a cover of the Barbara Streisand song Evergreen. 

"It's been remixed and there's also an acoustic version of it on there, I have another fantastic track on the album called Judgement Day, so I have a lot going on at the moment!"

Hazell Dean plays Rewind South at Temple Island Meadows in Henley-on-Thames on Saturday 20 August.

Visit the official Rewind website for ticket information: rewindfestival.com