The Darkness performing at the SECC, Glasgow on 12th February

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The Darkness

The Darkness are an English hard rock band. Their highly retro style of music seems to have been influenced by 1970s rock bands like Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, T. Rex and Led Zeppelin, and 1980s rock bands such as Van Halen and Def Leppard. more...

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They are known for their former lead singer Justin Hawkins' soaring falsetto. Hawkins left the group in 2006.

History

Originally from Kirkley High School, Lowestoft in Suffolk, brothers Justin Hawkins (vocals and guitar) and Dan Hawkins (guitar) found themselves in London where they met up with childhood friends, Frankie Poullain (bass) and Ed Graham (drums), and thus The Darkness was formed. Dan initially saw his brother's potential of being a frontman after Justin did an impressive recreation of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' at a New Year's Eve party in 1999, thrown by Justin and Dan's aunt in her Norfolk pub. Playing at first only in pubs and bars, their catsuits, pyrotechnic guitar solos and over the top performances soon brought them to the public knowledge. Frankie Poullain, the original bassist left in 2005 due to 'musical differences'. His replacement, Richie Edwards is still with the band.

In August 2006, lead singer Justin Hawkins was admitted to a rehabilitation clinic in concern of his health, which caused the band to cancel several concerts. . Around this same time the band confirmed that they were to start working on their 3rd album to be released early 2007.

However on the 10th October 2006, The Sun newspaper reported that Justin Hawkins was leaving the band after completing his course of rehabilitation from alcohol and cocaine problems, and the band would continue on without him, with Richie Edwards expected to take over as the frontman. It is however unknown as to whether the band can continue without their influential frontman whose voice partially defines who The Darkness are.

In response to the story being reported by the media, the following message was posted on The Darkness' official forum:

"We're sorry that you had to find this out through the newspapers, but we were hoping until the last minute that this - Justin's exit - wasn't going to happen. We - Dan, Ed and Richie - are still in total shock and can't say at this stage what the future holds. We would like to thank all our fans, partners and family for their continuous support. You will hear from us, once we know what we want to do..."

A vote on the BBC's Entertainment web-page had over 90% of people voting that The Darkness couldn't continue without Justin in the band however Kerrang! Radio reports that bass player Richie Edwards will be taking over lead vocals.

Permission To Land

Their debut album, Permission to Land, went straight to number two in the UK charts upon its release on 7 July 2003, before going to number one and staying there for four weeks, eventually going on to sell one and a half million copies in the UK.