Hawksley Workman

Hawksley Workman (born Ryan Corrigan, March 4, 1975) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his blend of cabaret pop and glam rock.

Workman has released eleven full-length albums throughout his career.

A multi-instrumentalist, he plays guitar, drums, bass, keyboards and sings on his records, often switching between those instruments when playing live.

Workman is a prolific artist, usually writing, recording, mastering and releasing entire albums in the span of a few weeks.

He explains, "A lot of artists I know they get a year and a half away from a record they've just made it's like ... 'Oh ... it's terrible I hate that thing,' ya know? When I record [a] record, I never take more than a day per song... so by the time the record is mixed, finished, complete, done... I'm still in a honeymoon with the record ..."

His music has been featured on the television shows Scrubs, Being Human, Falcon Beach, Queer as Folk and Whistler.

Workman produces and engineers much of his own recording, and has produced albums for other artists as well.

In addition, Workman has taken supporting roles as an actor in Michael McGowan's films Score: A Hockey Musical and Still Mine.

In 1998, Workman says he was, "just beginning to find my voice."

He recorded first in the front entrance of a friend's studio, then moved his studio "to the basement of a friend's recently deceased grandmother on Hillsdale Avenue" – this basement is where he recorded his early albums For Him and the Girls and (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves, as well as material that was released several years later on Before We Were Security Guards and Puppy (A Boy's Truly Rough).

In that studio, Hawksley Workman engineered and produced albums for other musicians.

He worked with many artists during this time, which played a role in the development of his production skills early in his career.

Workman released his first album in 1999 on his own label, Isadora Records and through Loose Music in Europe.

This album, titled, For Him and the Girls, earned him comparisons to the likes of Tom Waits, Rheostatics and Harry Nilsson.

Workman has been known for his unusual and creative promotional materials as well as his music.

Around the time of his debut release, he published a number of letters to "Isadora", a fictional lover, in the classified section of Toronto's NOW.

(These letters were later published by ECW Press as the book Hawksley Burns for Isadora.)

In 2000, Workman collaborated on an album called Chrome Reflection, credited to a band named Bird which also featured fellow Canadians Jason Collett and Andrew Cash.

The album also featured performances by most of Workman's then current live band.

Workman's second album was released in 2001 through Isadora Records/Universal Music Canada.

The album, titled (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves, became Workman's breakthrough record both in Canada and Europe, spawning the singles "Striptease" and "Jealous of Your Cigarette".

His record company press kit for The Delicious Wolves included such fanciful biographical details as sailing through the air on a kite, and learning music while working as a janitor at a tap dance academy.

At the end of 2001, he also released an EP of self-penned Christmas-themed songs, Almost a Full Moon.

In 2002, Workman was awarded the Juno Award for Best New Solo Artist and also received the award for Best Video for "Jealous of Your Cigarette".

Lover/Fighter followed in 2003; the album included the hits "We Will Still Need a Song", "Smoke Baby", "Anger as Beauty", "Even an Ugly Man" and "No Reason to Cry Out Your Eyes (On the Highway Tonight)".

The album was recorded in an old schoolhouse in Muskoka, which Workman converted into a recording studio.

"Anger As Beauty" was released in 2003 just prior to the LP release, Lover/Fighter.

It includes a radio edit of the single "Anger as Beauty", and "Love Will Tear Us Apart", a cover of Joy Division.

The same year Workman was featured, with recording artists Jully Black and Sam Roberts, in a multi-award-winning MuchMusic social-issue documentary "Inside Your Threads", by Tania Natscheff and Liz Marshall.

Workman and Black travelled to Bangladesh to witness the living and working conditions of garment workers making clothes for the North American market.

Live in Lille, released in 2004, is a DVD of a live performance performed in Lille, France, that showcases his live musicianship.

In 2004 Workman also released Before We Were Security Guards, an album he originally recorded in 1998.

The album was originally only available at live shows, but is now available to order through his website.

Additionally, in 2005 Workman released Serena Ryder's album, Unlikely Emergency through his label, Isadora Records.

Treeful of Starling was released on February 28, 2006, a quiet retreat compared to the more high energy Lover/Fighter.

In 2013 Workman formed a band, Mounties, with Ryan Dahle (Limblifter) and Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat).

Their debut album, Thrash Rock Legacy, was released on March 4, 2014, on Light Organ Records.

Workman was born in Huntsville in the Muskoka region of Ontario, attending Almaguin Highlands Secondary School and later Huntsville High School.

He later moved south, to Toronto, to pursue his musical career.

It was then that he started using the stage name Hawksley Workman instead of his original name, Ryan Corrigan.