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Colin Hay

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist

Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish-Australian musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay is a member of the band Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

Hay has made appearances in movies such as Cosi (1996) and in television shows such as The Resident, The Larry Sanders Show, JAG, The Mick Molloy Show, A Million Little Things, and Scrubs.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In Scrubs, he performs an acoustic version of the Men at Work hit "Overkill" in the first episode of the second season titled, My Overkill, along with a bit of the acoustic version of "Down Under" during a cutaway of the second episode of the seventh season titled, My Hard Labor. His music also appeared in the television series What About Brian, The Black Donnellys, Cane, and the BBC medical drama Casualty.

Early lifeEdit

Colin James Hay was born on 29 June 1953 in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, Scotland to James and Isabela Hay.<ref name="Bio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1967, when he was 14, the Hays emigrated to Melbourne in Australia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Bio"/> His parents owned a small music shop; his father, a piano tuner, had been a stage singer and dancer in Glasgow.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

1978–1986: Men at WorkEdit

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File:Colin Hay (1983).jpg
Hay in 1983

In 1978, Hay met Ron Strykert and they formed an acoustic duo.<ref name="Bio"/> In 1979, Hay and Strykert added Jerry Speiser and Greg Ham started composing songs for what would become Men at Work.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="Holmgren">Entries at Australian Rock Database:

  • Colin Hay/Colin Hay Band: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}

  • Men at Work (1979–1986, 1995–present): {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The band released their debut studio album, Business as Usual, in 1981, which was followed by Cargo (1983) and Two Hearts (1985) before breaking up in January 1986.

In 1986, Hay joined as guest vocalist with the Incredible Penguins 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 1985.<ref name="Kent">Template:Cite book 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.</ref><ref name="WhosWho">Template:Cite book Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.</ref>

1987–1993: Solo career beginningsEdit

Following the break-up of Men at Work in 1986, Hay released his debut single "Hold Me" in January 1987. The song peaked at number 40 on the Kent Music Report. His debut studio album, Looking for Jack was released in January 1987 and peaked at number 58.

Hay relocated to Los Angeles in 1989.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He settled in the Topanga region of the city and has resided in the United States since. In January 2016, he became a US citizen.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In March 1990, Hay released "Into My Life", the lead single from his second studio album, Wayfaring Sons, which was released in April 1990. Neither single nor album reached the ARIA top 100.<ref name=aus2>*For Wayfaring Sons and "Into My Life"{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was credited to the Colin Hay Band, which consisted of Gerry Hale, Paul Gadsby and Robert Dillon.<ref name="Bio"/>

In 1992, Hay released the acoustic album Peaks & Valleys. The album featured Hay's sister, Carol on vocals.<ref name="Bio"/>

1994–2004: ARIA Hall of Fame and Lazy Eye RecordsEdit

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994, Hay was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a member of Men at Work.<ref name="ARIA1994">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1994, Hay established his own recording label, Lazy Eye Records,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and released his fourth studio album, Topanga.

In 1996, Hay reunited with Men at Work and toured South America, which led to the live Men at Work album, Brazil.<ref name="Holmgren"/>

In October 1998, Hay released his fifth studio album, Transcendental Highway and in 1999 recorded and released the song "Misty Bay" with his girlfriend, Cecilia Noël.<ref name="Bio"/>

On 1 October 2000, Hay performed with Men at Work at the 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2001, Hay released his sixth studio album, Going Somewhere.<ref name="Bio"/>

In 2002, Hay released his seventh studio album Company of Strangers and the video album Live at the Continental recorded in 2000.<ref name="Bio"/>

In July 2003, Hay released his eighth studio album, Man @ Work, re-recording some Men at Work hits and his solo songs,<ref name="Bio"/> including a reimagined version of "Down Under" recorded with Hay's wife, Cecilia Noël, described as "more carnivale than outback".<ref>Steve Darnell, "Decision to go solo has paid off for Men at Work's Colin Hay", Chicago Tribune (August 12, 2003), Sec. 2, p. 3.</ref> Hay toured North America with former Beatles Ringo Starr, as a member of his Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.<ref name="Bio"/>

In 2004, Hay launched his one-man show named Man at Work, a mixture of songs and stories.<ref name="Bio"/>

2005–2020: Continued successEdit

File:Colin Hay - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI - 11.2.17 (38089387766).jpg
Hay performing in 2017

In 2006 Hay provided his voice for one of the characters in the animated film The Wild.<ref name="Bio"/>

In April 2007, Hay released his ninth studio album, Are You Lookin' at Me?.<ref name="Bio"/> In 2008, Hay plays the role of Nick at the horror movie The Uninvited.<ref name="Bio"/>

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 of the Tubes, 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.Template:Citation needed

In August 2009, Hay released his tenth studio album, American Sunshine.<ref name="Bio"/>

In 2010, Hay released the live album, Live at the Corner, filmed in 2007 at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia.<ref name="Bio"/>

In August 2010, Hay performed in Missoula, Montana with a Los Angeles roots rock band named Patrolled By Radar.<ref name=twsS14>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2011, Hay released his eleventh studio album Gathering Mercury.<ref name="Bio"/> 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In December 2013, Hay announced on his website that he was done touring "for the time being" and would spend 2014 writing and recording.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In February 2015, Hay released his twelfth studio album, Next Year People.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was preceded by the single "Trying to Get to You".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 4 August 2015, Colin Hay: Waiting for my Real Life, a documentary film about Hay, debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 27 January 2017, he released the first single, "A Thousand Million Reasons", from his thirteenth studio album Fierce Mercy, released in March 2017. Fierce Mercy debuted at number 44 on the ARIA chart, becoming his second solo chart entry in Australia. The album was promoted with his segments on Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery and Sunday Night.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Also in 2017, Hay released his first audiobook, Aesop's Fables with Colin Hay, published by Devault-Graves Digital Editions, for which he narrated 24 of Aesop's Fables written by author Tom Graves.

2021–present: "Down Under" remix, and other successesEdit

In August 2021, Hay released his fourteenth studio album, I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself. The album features 10 versions of some of Hay's favourite songs from the Beatles (Norwegian Wood, Across the Universe) Blind Faith, Del Amitri, Dusty Springfield, Faces, Gerry and the Pacemakers (Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying), Glen Campbell (Wichita Lineman), Jimmy Cliff (Many Rivers to Cross) and the Kinks (Waterloo Sunset).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In late 2021, Australian producer Christian "Luude" Benson (from the Tasmanian electronic dance music duo Choomba)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> remixed Men at Work's "Down Under" as a drum and bass track, with Hay re-recording the vocal for the track's release on the Sweat It Out<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> record label.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Down Under" by Luude featuring Colin Hay<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> charted at number 32 on the UK Singles chart on 7 January 2022<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and at number 48 in Australia (ARIA Top 50 Singles for week of 10 January 2022).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Hay's fifteenth studio album, Now and the Evermore, was released on 18 March 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2022, Australian rock band Lime Cordiale released their song "Colin" from their album Enough Of The Sweet Talk.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Hay lends vocals to the song, and part of the music video was filmed at his house.

Personal lifeEdit

Hay is married to singer Cecilia Noël,<ref>"'Man At Work' to play Towne Crier", SF Gate, 5:00 pm, Thursday, 8 April 2004.</ref> who often provides backing vocals at his shows. Noël has also helped with production on Hay's solo studio albums. Hay said of his ninth solo studio album, Are You Lookin' at Me? (2007) 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".<ref>Work keeps coming in for Colin Hay, SF Gate, 5:00 pm, Thursday, 5 July 2007.</ref> Hay and Noël live in Topanga Canyon in the Los Angeles area.<ref>Chris Johnston, "Lunch with Colin Hay", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2013.</ref>

On 13 February 2009, former Men at Work band member Ron Strykert was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Hay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hay became an American citizen in 2016. He also has a residence in St Kilda, Melbourne.

DiscographyEdit

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ActingEdit

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

{{safesubst:#if:|
Year Film/Show Role Notes
1985 Wills & Burke Publican Australian black comedy film
1988 Raw Silk Parker Australian film
1994–95 Blue Heelers Brad Fielding and George Patterson 2 episodes
1996 Cosi Zac Australian comedy-drama film
1997 JAG: Judge Advocate General Miles Episode – "Trinity"
1997 Heaven's Burning Jonah Australian crime film
1998 The Larry Sanders Show himself S6E2
1999 The Craic Barry Australian comedy film
1999 The Mick Molloy Show Gary Builder and himself S1E2 and S1E4
2002–2009 Scrubs 4 episodes
2006 The Wild Fergus Flamingo (voice)
2008 The Uninvited Nick American horror thriller film
2012 Jack Irish – Bad Debts Tony Baker Australian television drama series
2017 FishCenter Live citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> ||

2018 The Resident Rhys Barrett (musician) S2E4
2022 A Million Little Things himself S4E16

||} }}{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:End with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| html | 1 }}

Awards and nominationsEdit

APRA AwardsEdit

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters".<ref name="APRAMusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Awards table

2020 Colin Hay Distinguished Services Award<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Template:Yes2 2023 Colin Hay citation CitationClass=web

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ARIA Music AwardsEdit

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. Men at Work were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref name="ARIA1994"/>

Template:Awards table

Template:Abbr 1994 (as a member of) Men at Work ARIA Hall of Fame Template:Yes2 <ref name="auto"/><ref name="ARIA1994"/> 1998 Transcendental Highway Best Adult Contemporary Album Template:Nom 2011 Gathering Mercury Best Adult Contemporary Album Template:Nom 2022 "Down Under" (Luude featuring Colin Hay) Song of the Year Template:Nom <ref name="2022ARIAnoms">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Best Dance / Electronic Release Template:Won "Down Under" (featuring Colin Hay) (Luude, Peter Hume) Best Video Template:Nom {{safesubst:#if:|||} }}{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:End with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| html | 1 }}

Australian Songwriters Hall of FameEdit

The Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 2004 to honour the lifetime achievements of some of Australia's greatest songwriters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref> Template:Awards table

2020 Colin Hay Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame Template:Yes2

Country Music Awards of AustraliaEdit

The Country Music Awards of Australia is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They commenced in 1973. Template:Awards table ! Template:Abbr |- | 2020 || "Next Year People" (with Sara Storer) || Vocal Collaboration of the Year || Template:Nom || <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> |}

Countdown Australian Music AwardsEdit

Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.<ref name="CountdownMarch1987">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Template:Awards table |- | 1982 | himself (Men at Work) | Best Songwriter | Template:Nom |- | 1983 | himself | Songwriter of the Year | Template:Nom |-

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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