Chart entered : 18 February 1984
Chart peak : 63
Number of hits : 11
It's time for another female and probably the least pretentious artist to feature here.
Hazel Dean Poole was born in Chelmsford in 1952 and went into the clubs as a singer. She was spotted by Decca and started working with Eurovision song writer and producer Paul Curtis. I haven't heard her first single "Our Day Will Come" in October 1975. Her second was a Eurovision contender - Curtis had written The Shadows' British heat winner "Let Me Be The One" in 1975 - "I Couldn't Live Without You For A Day" a big dramatic MOR ballad. She appeared at the British finals at the Royal Albert Hall , knocking a few years off her age. Despite a note-perfect performance she came eighth out of twelve. Perhaps wearing one of her curtains put people off.
Hazel moved into disco and recorded a number of fast-paced dance singles - "Got You Where I Want You" ," Look What I Found At the End Of The Rainbow", "No One's Ever Gonna Love You" - which were popular on the Northern Soul scene. Her final single for Decca, the ballad "Who Was That Lady" is an uncanny Diana Ross impersonation. None of them got near the charts but the popularity she had built on the club scene as Northern Soul mutated into Hi-N R G would stand her in good stead.
Hazel had no record deal in the UK for the next five years; her only release was in The Netherlands , a duet with Curtis as "Curtis and Dean" . "You Got Me Wrong" is a fairly unremarkable Eurodisco track but did point the way towards her future direction. Two years later she released "Searchin" there ( with the extra "L" added to her name ) and scored a European success with this seminal Hi-NRG track. Hi-NRG was huge in Scotland and the North of England ,something that the UK chart was often slow to reflect, raising questions about the geographical spread of the chart return shops. "Searchin" bubbled under throughout the latter part of 1983 , helped by its popularity in gay clubs , but couldn't break into the charts until re-released after this one.
"Evergreen " is the Barbara Streisand song from A Star Is Born appropriately speeded up to match the Moroder-esque backing track. Despite that Hazell does her best to imitate Streisand's phrasing ; she doesn't quite get there but it's still a good showcase for her vocal talents. "Jealous Love " is her own song about getting fed up of her partner's suspicions and has a faster tempo . Hazel sings it in a higher range and it's very reminiscent of The Dooleys' later efforts. It's a decent enough pop song but neither side is up there with her best records. Both sides were available in extended form on the 12 inch single and I suspect that accounted for a substantial part of the single's sales.
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