Robert Hazard
| Robert Hazard | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Rimato |
| Born | August 21, 1948 |
| Died | August 5, 2008 (aged 59) |
Robert Hazard, born Robert Rimato (August 21, 1948 – August 5, 2008), was an American musician known for composing and recording a demo of the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", which Cyndi Lauper turned into a best-selling hit. He also composed the 1980s new wave and MTV hits, "Escalator of Life" and "Change Reaction", which he performed with his band, Robert Hazard and the Heroes, which was popular in the Philadelphia club scene during the 1980s. These songs appeared on the five song EP Robert Hazard, released in 1982. Hazard's first major-label album, Wing of Fire, was released by RCA Records in January 1984.
Aside from "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", some of Hazard's other popular songs include "Change Reaction", "Escalator of Life", and "Out of the Blue".
Hazard was the son of an opera singer. He grew up in Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Springfield High School in 1966. He was profiled in a 1981 Rolling Stone article by Kurt Loder. In the piece, Loder describes Hazard's musical history as a musician "... who started out as a Dylan-era folkie, then spent eight years singing country & western. 'I just love country music,' he explains — which of course explains nothing, least of all the two years he subsequently spent with a reggae band ... or his current electro-pop approach, which owes little to any of the above".
His final recordings were country albums, beginning with The Seventh Lake (2003) and continuing with Blue Mountain (2004). In 2007, Rykodisc signed Hazard and released his album, Troubador.
Hazard died at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on August 5, 2008 after surgery for pancreatic cancer, with which he had recently been diagnosed. He was living with his wife and two sons near Old Forge, New York, at the time of his death. He also is survived by a daughter.
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