Amazing Northern Ireland blues singer shares story of abuse and suicide attempts

Kaz Hawkins’ soulful songs are influenced by her experiences of abuse, addiction, and depression, and let her fans know they are not alone.

Belfast singer-songwriter Kaz Hawkins is a survivor.

As a child, she was sexually abused by her uncle, which resulted in a decades-long struggle to cope, with Hawkins turning to self-harm, cocaine, and attempting suicide. She had to make the heartbreaking decision to give her three children to foster care, and endured another brush with death when her abusive partner slit her throat.

Eventually, she got help, got clean and, and got her kids back. She also turned to songwriting as a way of processing all that she had been through.

Now, Hawkins is one of the strongest voices emerging out of Northern Ireland, using her songs to spread a message of hope and honesty. Her powerful, blusey sound is captivating and uplifting, and her songs, with titles like “Better Days,” “Lipstick & Cocaine,” and “Surviving” talk fearlessly about her struggles and the possibility to change.

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She also works with the charity Aware NI, which works to battle depression.

As the Belfast Telegraph wrote in a profile of her, to Hawkins

"The definition of success is being alive. That is what matters to me," says Kaz, who fervently hopes that by speaking out about herself she can help other people with mental health problems, depression and suicidal thoughts.

"This whole thing needs to be blown wide open.

"Young people must be aware that they can get help and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing to increase the profile of counselling organisations and to raise funds for them.

"When I was young, there was nowhere for me to go to seek advice about what could be done for me. It was easy for people like me to be locked up back then. It was easy to feed medicine down our necks.

"There has been progress in recent times, obviously, and there are organisations to point people at risk in the right direction, but we need more funding to be pumped into the services on offer here and across Northern Ireland to make sure our next generation is looked after.”

With a new album titled “Don’t Know You” out now and a number of tour dates in Ireland and the UK lined up, she’s reaching more people than ever.