Colin Hay

This article is about the musician. For the political scientist, see Colin Hay (political scientist).
Colin Hay

Hay in 2013
Background information
Birth name Colin James Hay
Born (1953-06-29) 29 June 1953
Saltcoats, Scotland, United Kingdom
Origin Australia
Genres Rock, pop rock, new wave, acoustic, country
Occupation(s) musician,actor
Instruments Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, banjo, lap steel
Years active 1978–present
Labels CBS, MCA, Compass
Associated acts Men at Work
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Lazlo Bane
Website Official website

Colin James Hay[1][2] (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-born Australian musician and actor who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music has been frequently used by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, subsequently leading to a career rebirth in the mid-2000s.[3]

Early life

Hay was born in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland, but emigrated to Australia with his family at age 14 in 1967.[4]

Career

Men at Work

In 1978, Hay met Ron Strykert and the men began playing acoustic music as a duo. Hay and Strykert formed the core of the band Men at Work, with Hay on vocals, guitar and keyboards, and Strykert, on guitar, vocals and bass guitar. Hay and Strykert added Jerry Speiser (drums), John Rees (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Greg Ham (flute, saxophone, keyboards, vocals).[5] The group released their debut album Business as Usual in 1981.

In 1982, the success of Men at Work and their albums Business as Usual and Cargo prompted Hay to relocate to Los Angeles in 1989.[6] He settled in the Topanga region of the city and has resided in the USA since and in January 2016 became a U.S. citizen .[7]

Hay joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985, for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.[8][9]

Later career

Following the break-up of Men at Work in 1985, Hay released several major label solo albums, including Looking for Jack (Columbia) and Wayfaring Sons (MCA), to fluctuating commercial success. In 2011, Hay commented on his early solo career, stating, "After Men at Work, for the better part of a decade, I was stumbling around being unfocused. It was pre-internet, I really had to try to find my audiences by going out on tour. Men at Work really didn't build a foundational audience. We came in as a pop band with enormous radio success; once that goes away and the band breaks up the audience tends to go away with it. You're left with what you want to make of it. When you start out doing those tours, you start again [and] you tend not to attract a very big number of people. I'd play to a hundred people or sometimes less."[10]

In 2004 he contributed to the Garden State soundtrack with his solo song "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You".

In addition to recording, Hay also established his own recording label, Lazy Eye Records,[11] somewhat incorrectly named for his own divergent ocular condition, exotropia, or divergent strabismus (the usage of lazy-eye generally refers to Amblyopia) and has made appearances in cult movies such as Cosi and television shows, such as The Larry Sanders Show, JAG, and The Mick Molloy Show. Hay also appeared on television in the NBC show Scrubs, which along with episodes of ABC's What About Brian, NBC's The Black Donnellys, CBS's Cane, and the BBC hospital drama Casualty, have included performances of some of his previous songs.

In December 2005, Hay and Heather Mills released "My Brilliant Feat" as a charity single as a tribute to football player George Best, who died on 25 November of that year. Proceeds were forwarded to the Donor Family Network, supporting organ donor families and promoting organ and tissue donation. The single is available on iTunes with a bonus music video tribute to Best.[12][13]

In 2006 Hay provided his voice for one of the characters in animated movie The Wild. He has also been a member of Ringo Starr's eighth and tenth All-Starr Bands. He continues to perform regularly, including playing some folk venues.

On 13 February 2009, former Men at Work band member Ron Strykert was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Hay.[14][15]

Hay contributed music to the TV series Scrubs in the course of a number of episodes, including on-camera performances. In Episode 1 of Season 2 he performs an acoustic version of the Men at Work-hit "Overkill" and he also makes an appearance in "My Hard Labor"

Hay released his 10th album, "American Sunshine", on 18 August 2009 on Compass Records.

In 2009, Hay's former group, Men at Work, was named in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by Larrikin Music, which owns the rights to the "Kookaburra" song. Larrikin Music claims that part of a flute riff from the band's 1981 single "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra" originally written by a music teacher, Marion Sinclair, who died in 1988. In February 2010, a court ruled in favour of Larrikin Music. Although the petition from Larrikin Music requested 40% to 60% of royalties dating back to 1981 and future royalties, in July 2010 a judge awarded the plaintiff only 5% of royalties dating back to 2002 and the same amount of future royalties.[16]

In May 2009, Hay performed at the Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California. Performing alongside Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Fee Waybill (Tubes) and Venice and over 70 members of the Santa Monica High School Orchestra and Girls Choir, the benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of music education in public schools. In August 2010, Hay performed in Missoula, Montana with a Los Angeles Roots rock band named Patrolled By Radar.[17]

In December 2013, Hay announced on his website that he was done touring "for the time being" and would spend 2014 writing and recording.[18]

In 2015 he joined the Last Summer on Earth tour with Violent Femmes and Barenaked Ladies.

On 4 August 2015, "Colin Hay: Waiting for my Real Life," a documentary film about the singer, debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival[19]

Hay makes an appearance on BNL Rocks Red Rocks by Barenaked Ladies, a live album recorded on the Last Summer on Earth 2015 tour. [20]

Solo discography

Acting

After performing in Men at Work, Hay performed in a number of films and TV shows, usually in small roles.

Personal life

Hay is married to singer Cecilia Noël,[21] who often provides backup vocals at his shows. Noël has also helped to produce Hay's solo albums. For example, Hay said of his solo album, "Are You Lookin' At Me?" that:

She was really crucial. She was a really great sounding board for me. She's a really good producer in the sense that she's very musical and has a great sense of song structure and so forth. So she was great to bounce ideas off. And she sang on nearly all the songs. So she was really a great part of this record.[22]

Hay and Noël live in Topanga Canyon in the Los Angeles, California area.[23]

Hay is uncle to Sia Furler, sometimes referred to mononymously as Sia, an Australian singer and songwriter.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Hay, Colin James". ASCAP / ACE Title Search. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  2. ↑ Denton, Andrew (15 October 2007). "Colin Hay". Enough Rope. ABC Television. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  3. ↑ Stewart, Allison (28 April 2011). "Colin Hay a working man from way back". Chicago Tribune.
  4. ↑ "Colin Hay". allmusic.com. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  5. ↑ Entries at Australian Rock Database:
    • Colin Hay/Colin Hay Band: Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan. "Colin Hay". passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
    • Men at Work (1979–86, 1995-present): Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan. "Men at Work". passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Colin Hay still a man at work". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  7. ↑ "Crystal Ballroom". Mcmenamins.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  9. ↑ Spencer, Chris; Nowara, Zbig; McHenry, Paul (2002) [1987]. "Incredible Penguins". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Notes by Ed Nimmervoll. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1. Retrieved 2 January 2010. Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
  10. ↑ "Colin Hay is still at work". National Features. 18 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Sue Kiesewetter. "Singer Colin Hay comes to Fairfield Community Arts Center April 24 - Butler County News at Cincinnati.com". Rodeo.cincinnati.com. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  12. ↑ "BBC Breakfast — December's Information". BBC News. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  13. ↑ Nix, David. "Donor Family Network". Heather Mills. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  14. ↑ "Men at Work star arrested for threats". Digital Spy. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  15. ↑ "Men at Work guitarist threatened to kill singer, police say". LA Times. February 17, 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Kookaburra gets last laugh in Men at Work case".
  17. ↑ "Colin Hay with Patrolled by Radar". Missoula Independent. 2 August 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2011. when Colin Hay—formerly of the group Men at Work—plays the Wilma Theatre with Patrolled by Radar
  18. ↑ "Colin Hay » A message from Colin". Colinhay.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  20. ↑ ""BNL Rocks Red Rocks" set for release | Get Barenaked!". getbarenaked.net. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  21. ↑ "'Man At Work' to play Towne Crier", SF Gate, 5:00 pm, Thursday, 8 April 2004.
  22. ↑ "Work keeps coming in for Colin Hay, SF Gate, 5:00 pm, Thursday, July 5, 2007.
  23. ↑ Chris Johnston, "Lunch with Colin Hay", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2013.
  24. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (Dec 2007). "Problems' Child". CMJ New Music. Retrieved October 8, 2015.

External links

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