What a pleasure it is to be featured here on Music Talks, thank you very much for having me here.
I would like now to share with you a little on the music I have produced so far, and continue to compose. I grew up quite sheltered from the world of modern music, my sister and I were classically trained on the piano, violin and vocals and had each other for company growing up, rather than immersing ourselves in the crazes and phases of music – apart from the Spice Girls, I totally jumped on board that craze! Had the stickers and everything.
We listened to a phenomenal amount of 60’s music on car journeys, so I have a huge love for this decade in music. Films and Disney movies also played a huge part in my musical upbringing, if I heard a song I loved (which happened often) I’d run to the piano to work out how to play it. I remember thinking, I want to compose music that has that same effect. I composed my first song at 11 years old, and just haven’t stopped! I think my first CD was ‘Now 32’! I asked for a hifi system that same Christmas, and then would collect all sorts of music, mostly 90’s and film soundtracks. (While my sister next door would dance to Michael Jackson for hours!)
I’m the type of person that loves to be introduced to music (art, people, food etc..), so from the age of about 17, I’ve had very varying music crushes such as The Darkness, the Eagles, All Saints Shania Twain, Aerosmith, and many more. Then quite a few French artists when I lived in Paris (Gainsbourg, Francis Cabrel, Pink Martini – discovered them when in Paris, Camille, Aznavour and many more). I do have a big crush on country music, my ultimate favourite is Kenny Chesney’s ‘She thinks my tractor’s sexy. Big shoutout goes to the Mrs Doubtfire soundtrack (Papa’s got a brand new bag, Jump Around, etc) and Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb which has got my sister, our best friend and me up dancing since FOREVER!
So that’s a little bit on my music influences and upbringing, now I would love to talk about my latest single ‘The End Game’, that was recorded this summer in Abbey Road Studios and will be available to purchase and stream on Saturday 22nd September. I composed it because I now feel so confident and so sure that music is my calling, my path, my BORN platform to entertain and move others. It’s a song about ambition, originally about my ambition to succeed in this cut throat, cruel, and tough industry, but I wrote it in a way that it speaks to others’ of the same winning and ambitious mindset before it turns at the end into the first person and becomes personal to me. “A test of character, a test of life, a new direction, a new start, new ways of thinking, greed to succeed” are it’s opening lines. What is YOUR End Game? What are you doing to achieve it? Are you ready for the mistakes? The highs and lows that are involved in moulding yourself into the best you can be? Whatever happens along the way, my message in this song is to “keep your eyes on the End Game”.
I held a launch party for the song in a very iconic London club called Tramp, between 80 and 100 people came and absolutely loved the song. Musically, the song is very James Bond. I wanted it to sound epic and powerful so I added a load of strings and drums to the arrangement, and so many people want the next Bond film to be called ‘The End Game’, just so the song can be used!
It is actually a life ambition of mine to write a Bond song. I have another in my repertoire that I composed when I lived in Austria and the film ‘Spectre’ was being filmed just up the road from where I lived. I was so inspired by the electric energy in the area that I sat down, researched an Ian Fleming book that hasn’t yet been made into a film and wrote a Bond song for it, called ‘Property of a Lady’. It is on my long list of to do’s to get in produced so that you can hear it! And so that I can get even more of a foot into the Bond world. One of my End Games, is to have my name on those scrolling Bond credits. Give me time. I am patient, and I am working hard!
My time in Austria was a beautiful, peaceful and game changing time between 2011 and 2016, it was actually there, in the Tirolean mountains, that I turned to music as a career. I met a fantastic guitarist called Reno, we fell in love and performed music together. I hadn’t touched a piano since I left school at 18, so it was a new and exciting path for me. Once I had conquered some contemporary numbers though, I was hooked and I haven’t turned back. I performed in Tirol, and as I grew I played in Germany and Switzerland as well. Then, when I realised Austria wasn’t going to be my future forever, I moved to London (last summer), with zero music contacts and a burning desire to succeed.
Since then, I recorded my very first debut album (VIVID) – I actually flew back to Austria to produce it – have found work in stunning London locations such as the Savoy and Tramp and have now just released the latest single from Abbey Road. The next single, also an Abbey Road production, will be with you in January! I’m not (yet) signed, I am an independent artist doing the rounds, playing as much as I can, recording, singing, day by day, step by step chiseling my way to the top - and I am loving every minute of it! I know the path leads only upwards. “The world will soon know my name” - a line from the End Game.
Perhaps you readers and listeners will let me know what you think of ‘The End Game’ - fun fact about the video is that it features THE original Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (one of three anyway). So please do watch it, listen to the lyrics that are there to inspire and motivate and let me know your thoughts! I have released it under my new stage name SHy, not Sarah Hawkyard, as this original name of mine is a real confusing mouthful for most, despite its uniqueness! SHy is actually a play on the initials.
So whatever you do my dear readers and listeners, keep your eyes on YOUR End Game. Don’t give up! See you soon on the fabulous platforms that grace our daily lives, twitter, instagram and facebook – are the ones I use. @sarahhawkyard (twitter /IG) & @sarahhawkyard1 (for facebook).
Peace, love, honesty and prayers your way! x
LINKS
WEBSITE: www.sarahhawkyard.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/sarahhawkyard1
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/sarahhawkyard
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sarahhawkyard/