Justin Hawkins quits The Darkness

Drink and drug addicition forces the singer out

The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has quit the band to recover from drink and drug addictions.

The singer has decided to call it a day following a stint in The Priory rehab clinic in London.

"I feel bad for the others (in the band)," he told The Sun newspaper. "It will be an upheaval. But it's time for me to move on. It would be damaging to my recovery to stay on. I'm not blaming the band for my problem - I am an addict. There are people who can be in bands and stay clean, but I'm not one of them."

Despite his decision to quit, Hawkins said that the band will carry on without him, with bassist Richie Edwards, who replaced former band member Frankie Poullain, taking over the vocal duties.

According to the singer, his addiction to cocaine over the last few years became so bad that he was spending over a £1,000 a week on the drug.

"I feel like I've lost three years of my life. I'm only just coming to terms with what has happened because I was always off my face," he explained. "I became secretive, volatile and verbally abusive, a really unpleasant person to be around."

Hawkins added that he considered quitting The Darkness last year before the band set off on a world tour, but carried on before entering rehab in August.

The singer said he will now concentrate on recording a solo record and writing music for films.

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Hahaha Okbye.

Gotta do what you gotta do.

I also read he was suffering from an eating disorder.

and his hair is horrible.

lolz

i was happy until i read the bit about a solo career

exactly.

but he's hopefully not relevant anymore. the joke is very, very old.

and there's frightfully little of it on top.

why would the band even consider carrying on without him though?? i don't think they'll find another singer that sounds like him, and his voice was a key element to that band

it would have been more cock-rockish if he died choking on his own vomit.

Hehehe, I wonder how long it'll be before Richey Edwards is left as a solo act, and Manic Street Preachers fans everywhere get confused as fuck...

was he the fat drummer?

They were a joke that stopped being funny the moment they stepped the tip of a foot on the scene and I didn't like how they suddenly got too big for the boots in their mind and started slagging off other bands when they were the biggest joke band. I'm not sad to see him gone. And after the Courtney Love's and Pete Doherty's I yawn at the junkie role.

i guess that explains why he looks so old for what is he, 29 i think? oh well.. they had their 15 minutes. hope he gets better.

Haha! Nah, he's nowhere near as pretty as our Richey although he can probably play guitar a hell of alot better than the Lord Lucan of Wales ever could.

who even knew they were still around?

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dithyrambic does not:
have a husband
have a child
fight over ice cream
care that you dont know who she is.

so are his teeth.

shocking.

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then she dances skirt swaying in the half-light she dances white blossom in the black sky
'I need new clothes', she thinks, 'new skin, a mind I can bear to live in'.

i hated the darkness

death to hair metal/cock rock..............thats what i say

the earth might stop spinning now.