(1961-08-12) 12 August 1961 (age62) Southend, Essex, England
Occupation(s)
Singer
songwriter
musician
Spouse(s)
Georgie Hay
Musical career
Instrument(s)
Vocals
guitar
keyboards
Roy Ernest Hay (born 12 August 1961) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the pop band Culture Club. Hay, a trained pianist since the age of five, replaced founding member Johnny Suede in 1981. Some of Hay's musical influences were Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers and Led Zeppelin. Before his involvement with Culture Club, Hay was a hairdresser in his native Essex.[1]
It was during Culture Club's beginnings that Hay met Alison Green. The two married in 1982.[2]
According to the "Culture Club" episode the VH-1 series Behind the Music, Hay assisted Boy George in giving up heroin. The singer suffered the painful withdrawal symptoms closely attended by Hay in his Essex home.
Following Culture Club, Hay formed another band, called This Way Up, with singer Robinson Reid.[3] In 1987, they released three singles: "Tell Me Why", "If I Can't Have You" and "Louise". An album, Feeling Good About It, was released in some European countries and in Japan in 1987. Of those records, "Tell Me Why" charted, for one week at number 72 in the UK Singles Chart.[4]
Hay moved to Los Angeles, U.S. in 1989 and from there wrote for and produced young artists and bands for Sony Music. He branched into commercial composing and sound design with his own company Haywired Music.
Hay found later success as a composer in Hollywood, California, working with fellow composer Hans Zimmer and composing the music for a series directed by Robert Altman, as well as the music for Cracker and for Stephen King's The Dead Zone. Hay reunited with the three original members of Culture Club in 1998 to record a new album. In a Rolling Stone interview, Hay described the years apart as a healing process. "There was obviously a bit of a healing process that needed to happen between Jon [Moss] and George. They hadn't really spoken to each other in quite a while". The description of the tour was "Older and wiser...We've all been through some good and bad times since the band. I think we've all grown up a bit".[5]
Literature
International Who`s Who of Popular Music, Europa Publications Limited, London, p.224, ISBN1857431618
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting, Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland, and remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
Culture Club are an English new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George, Roy Hay, and Mikey Craig, and formerly included Jon Moss. Emerging in the New Romantic scene, they are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 1980s.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group The Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. Levon Helm provided the lead vocals. The song is a first-person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist, a poor white Southerner, during the last year of the American Civil War, when George Stoneman was raiding southwest Virginia.
Saint Etienne are an English band from Greater London, formed in 1990. The band consists of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They became associated with the UK's indie dance scene in the 1990s, beginning with the release of their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991. Their work has been described as uniting 1990s club culture with 1960s pop and other disparate influences. The name of the band comes from the French football club of AS Saint-Étienne.
Blue-eyed soul is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and Stax record labels. Though many R&B radio stations in the United States in that period would only play music by black musicians, some began to play music by white acts considered to have "soul feeling"; their music was then described as "blue-eyed soul".
Blur is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 10 February 1997 by Food Records. Blur had previously been broadly critical of American popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the Britpop movement, particularly Parklife, which had helped them become one of Britain's leading pop acts. After their previous album, The Great Escape, the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained.
The Smiths is the debut studio album by English rock band the Smiths, released on 20 February 1984 by Rough Trade Records. After the original production by Troy Tate was felt to be inadequate, John Porter re-recorded the album in London, Manchester and Stockport during breaks in the band's UK tour during September 1983.
Cosmic Thing is the fifth studio album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1989 by Reprise Records. It contains the singles "Love Shack", "Roam" and "Deadbeat Club", which reached the Top 10, 20 and 30 of the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, respectively. The music video for "Love Shack" won the award for Best Group Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. Six of the album's songs were produced by Nile Rodgers in New York City, and the remaining four by Don Was in upstate New York.
Helen Terry is a British singer and television producer, known for her backing vocal work with Culture Club. As a solo performer, she scored a Top 40 hit single in 1984 with "Love Lies Lost", and released one album in 1986, Blue Notes.
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show is an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'", "Only Sixteen" (1975), "A Little Bit More" (1976), "Sharing the Night Together" (1978), "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (1979) and "Better Love Next Time" (1979). In addition to its own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein.
Colour by Numbers is the second album by the British new wave group Culture Club, released in October 1983. Preceded by the hit single "Karma Chameleon", which reached number one in several countries, the album reached number one in the UK and has sold 10 million copies. It has been certified triple platinum in the UK and quadruple platinum in the US. It was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s.
"Sexual Healing" is a song recorded by American singer Marvin Gaye from his seventeenth and final studio album, Midnight Love (1982). It was his first single since his exit from his long-term record label Motown earlier in the year, following the release of the In Our Lifetime (1981) album the previous year. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is listed at number 198 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Sexual Healing" is written and composed in the key of E-flat major and is set in time signature of 4/4 with a tempo of 94 beats per minute.
"I Can't Tell You Why" is a song by the American rock band Eagles that appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. It was written by band members Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Recorded in March 1978, it was the first song finished for the album and the first Eagles song to feature Schmit on lead vocals. Released as a single in February 1980, it became a Billboard top 10 hit in April, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was the group's last top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Michael George Farr, known professionally as Mike Leander, was a British arranger, songwriter and record producer.
"Keep It Dark" is a song by British band Genesis, released on 23 October 1981 in the UK as the second single from Abacab. It reached number 33 in the UK Singles Chart.
"The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" is a song written by Shel Silverstein and first recorded by American rock group Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Produced by Ron Haffkine and released in 1972, it was the band's third single and peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. pop chart for two weeks on March 17–24, 1973. The song satirically laments that the band had not appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stone, a magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. The song's success led to the band appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1973, albeit in caricature.
George Alan O'Dowd, known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, actor, DJ and lead singer of the English pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham and was part of the New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to early 1980s. His androgynous look and style of fashion was greatly inspired by glam rock pioneers David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He formed the Culture Club with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss in 1981. The band's second album Colour by Numbers (1983) sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Their hit singles include "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time ", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon", "Victims", "Miss Me Blind", "It's a Miracle", "The War Song", "Move Away" and "I Just Wanna Be Loved".
Ron Haffkine was an American record producer, composer and music manager most recognized for his work as a producer and manager of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, an American rock band, producing hit singles including "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of Rolling Stone", "Sharing the Night Together", "A Little Bit More" and "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" and achieving 67 Gold and Platinum records.
"Changing of the Seasons" is a song by Northern Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club. The song is the lead single and title track from the band's 2013 extended play (EP) of the same name, Changing of the Seasons. "Changing of the Seasons" was the band's first new single since they departed their previous label, Kitsuné, and signed with Parlophone.
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