After Dinner Speakers: Hazel O'Connor, John Nichol, Hot Chocolate

b. 16 May 1955, Coventry, England. O'Connor's introduction to showbusiness involved working as an dancer and started with a minor movie role in Girls Come First. At the close of the 70s, she signed to the Albion label and issued the single "Ee-I-Adio", which failed to sell. Her profile increased when she appeared in the film Breaking Glass, a melodramatic portrayal of a fictional rock star. O'Connor's aggressive singing style and confrontational appearance was used to good effect on the Tony Visconti-produced "Eighth Day" (complete with "robotic" intonation) which reached the UK Top 5. The following year, she registered two further Top 10 singles, "D-Days" and the uncharacteristic ballad "Will You". Various disputes with her record company and management slowed down her career. In 1984, she recorded Smile for RCA Records but the record sold poorly and the label declined to renew her option. O'Connor subsequently appeared in the musical Girlfriends in 1987, before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. She moved to Co Wicklow, Ireland in 1990. In the late 90s she was touring her one-woman musical show, Beyond Breaking Glass.