page_title: Justin Hawkins
section_title: Other projects
hierarchical_section_title: Justin Hawkins / Music career / Other projects
caption_attribution_description: English: Hot Leg at Dundee Doghouse, 18 October 2008
context_page_description: Justin David Hawkins is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of the Darkness. Heavily influenced by classic rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, Hawkins is noted for his falsetto singing voice and on-stage persona. He was also the lead singer and guitarist for the band Hot Leg, formed in 2008, and now on hiatus.
context_section_description: In 2005, Hawkins set up a solo project, called British Whale. His debut single, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us", a cover of the 1974 hit by Sparks, was released on 15 August, reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and featured multiple World Darts Champion Phil Taylor in the video. In 2006 Hawkins released a second single, available only to download, an unofficial World Cup anthem called "England".
  Hawkins sang backing vocals on Sweet's song "Hell Raiser" for Def Leppard's 2006 covers album Yeah!.
  In early 2007, he became half of one of six acts competing to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest competition in Helsinki in a duet with singer Beverlei Brown. He entered Making Your Mind Up with Beverlei Brown singing a song entitled "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To" but did not win the competition.
  On 16 March 2007, he appeared on the Comic Relief evening during the half-hour Top Gear of the Pops programme.  This saw him performing Billy Ocean's "Red Light Spells Danger" with the three Top Gear presenters.
  Later that month, on 29 March, Hawkins created a new MySpace profile featuring songs that were planned to be included on his upcoming solo album entitled Panther. The songs are titled "You Can't Hurt Me Anymore", "I've Met Jesus" and "Whichever". On 12 May, Hawkins added a further song to his profile, "Gay in the 80's", to appear on the same album. Later, on 13 July, he removed all the songs, and mentioned "You'll just have to wait".  He later announced a new band line-up and name: Hot Leg. The aforementioned songs featured on the Hot Leg album Red Light Fever.
  Hawkins also announced that he had been participating in the recording of two Magnet Watch albums entitled Nude Horizon and Party Party Time Time. On 8 November 2007, at 3:00 am, Hawkins posted a MySpace blog containing directions to Do the Green Thing, an organisation for which he has composed a new song, "Do It in the Dark", to accompany a short film that encourages people to switch off and save energy. The song has not been released as a single but is available as a free download.
  There is a wax model of Hawkins at Madame Tussaud's in London.
  Hawkins supplied the singing and guitar playing for Kurtz, the lead singer of the "bad guy band" Mantyz in the BBC's animated series Freefonix, which debuted on 4 January 2008.
  In the film Telstar, a film about Joe Meek's life and career that was released on 19 June 2009, he played the role of Screaming Lord Sutch.
  With Hot Leg in November 2008, he toured the UK supporting Alter Bridge ( 4–13 November) and Extreme ( 14–24 November).
  Hawkins has also worked with British pop-rock band Saving Aimee, having recently completed producing their debut album. He also lent his "truth larynx" to the track "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)" guesting on the 2009 Steel Panther release, Feel the Steel. Hawkins recently worked with Adam Lambert on the track "Music Again" off his debut album.
  Justin played the role of Josh, a burned out rockstar in the 2010 movie Psychosis. The movie also featured three Hot Leg songs.
  Hawkins also appeared on the Meat Loaf album Hang Cool Teddy Bear, where he co-wrote two songs ("Love Is Not Real" and "California Isn't Big Enough"). He also provided guitar on "California Isn't Big Enough" and backing vocals on "Love Is Not Real" and "Los Angeloser".
  In 2012, Hawkins appeared in a Samsung commercial for their Galaxy Note smartphone during Super Bowl XLVI.
  In 2016, Hawkins appeared on the De La Soul album and the Anonymous Nobody... providing vocals on the track "Lord Intended".
  In 2020, Hawkins participated in the UK version of The Masked Singer, appearing as Chameleon. His identity was revealed in the third episode when he was voted out. During his time on the show he performed renditions of "Creep" by Radiohead, "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man, and "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper.
caption: Hawkins with new band Hot Leg, October 2008
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