Hi, I'm Hazel Jane MacLaurin and I'm a folky singer-songwriter, accompanying myself on the piano and guitar. You can find out what I sound like here, and decide for yourself if you like it(!).
In January 2009 I had a bad yet comical accident...I fell down the stairs on a London double decker bus (yes really), broke my left hand in three places and was told I'd never play a musical instrument again.
Oh, and, to add insult to serious injury, I was coming home after my first professionally paid gig - doh!
It took a long while, a lot of physiotherapy, trying all the alternative therapies in the book, temporarily becoming a meat eater (I'd been veggie for years) and a lot of hospital visits, but now I'm back on the scene, playing gigs, doing radio shows and generally putting my music about.
I would say that my influences are pretty diverse: I grew up in a house steeped in the sixties folk scene, listening to Joan Baez, The New Seekers, Fairport Convention, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and other folk and antifolk heroes popular and unknown. Then I worked for piano company Roland and got very into Stevie Wonder and various jazz and funk maestros, courtesy of my pro jazz colleagues. Brilliantly, I got to brush up on my piano skills whilst working there, very useful as I now find it easier to play the piano than the guitar post-broken hand!
Vintage folk and funk are not my only influences - nowadays my iPod's got a lot of the newer folk folk (pun intended) on it, like Fleet Foxes, Damien Rice, and Lou Rhodes; these sit alongside rockier influences such as Nick Cave, Bill Callahan and Tori Amos.
Do claim your free track by signing up to the mailing list - I promise I never, ever spam - take the song as a gift from me to you, and see what you think! You can have a listen to other songs here, and see videos here and here.
Oh and here's a short interview about how I started in music, my influences...and rude fruit!