Robert Hazard
Robert Hazard (né Rimato, August 21, 1948 – August 5, 2008) was an American musician. He wrote, composed, and recorded the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in 1979, which was covered in 1983 by Cyndi Lauper, who turned it into a best-selling hit. He also composed the new-wave and MTV songs "Escalator of Life" and "Change Reaction", which he performed with his band, Robert Hazard and the Heroes, that was popular in the Philadelphia club scene during the 1980s. These songs appeared on the five song EP "Robert Hazard", released in June 1982 by his  own record label "RHA Records", and the next November by major label RCA Records. So Hazard got his first LP album, "Wing of Fire", released in January 1984 always by RCA Records. Biography. Early life and studies. Born in 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hazard was the son of an opera singer. He grew up in Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania and graduated from Springfield High School in 1966. Music career and genres developed. Kurt Loder profiled him in a 1981 "Rolling Stone" article. Loder describes Hazard as a musician "...who started out as a Dylan-era folkie, then spent eight  years singing country & western. 'I just love country music', he explains, which of course explains nothing, least of all the two years he subsequently spent with a reggae band... or his current electro-pop approach, which owes little to any of the above." Last albums made of country music. His final recordings were country albums, beginning with "The Seventh Lake" (2003) and continuing with "Blue Mountain" (2004). In 2007, Rykodisc signed Hazard and released his album, "Troubadour". Death. Hazard, a lifelong heavy smoker, died 16 days before his 60th birthday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on August 5, 2008 , after surgery for pancreatic cancer, with which he had recently been diagnosed.