 Educated at Hazelwick School, in Crawley, West Sussex, Hazlewood began his career as a DJ at the radio station Radio Luxembourg in the early 1960s.In 1966 he founded the group The Family Dogg, together with Albert Hammond and Steve Rowland.In addition, he often wrote songs in collaboration with Hammond such as "Green Green Trees" or "Little Arrows" for Leapy Lee, "Gimme Dat Ding" for The Pipkins, and "The Air That I Breathe" for Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers, for his 1973 solo album "Star Spangled Springer".