Barry Andrew Hay (born 16 August 1948) is an Indian-born Dutch musician; he was the lead vocalist and frontman of Dutch rock band Golden Earring from 1967 until their disbandment in 2021. He has also released three solo albums.

Early life and education

Hay was born in Faizabad, United Provinces (present day Ayodhya, India), to a

Dutch-Jewish The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the ...

mother, Sofia Maria née Sluijter (1922–2004, born in

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

), and a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

commissioned officer, Philip Aubrey Hay (1923–1980). He moved to the Netherlands at the age of eight to live with his mother after his parents divorced. He lived in Amsterdam and later in The Hague, attending an English boarding school. After graduating from

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

, he took courses at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague.

Background

Barry is of Jewish descent. Hay's grandmother, Flora Sluijter-Polak (born 29 January 1890 in Amsterdam), was killed in an

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

on 1 October 1942, and her child, Marcus Sluijter (born 21 August 1927) was also killed in Auschwitz, on 31 January 1943, aged fifteen. After the Second World War ended, Barry's mother hid her Jewish identity and "no longer wanted to know that she was Jewish". His maternal grandfather served in the

Dutch East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...

Career

Hay started his music career with a band called The Haigs. In the summer of 1967, he was asked to join the Golden Earrings, as they were then called (the "Earrings" was later changed to "Earring"), replacing Frans Krassenburg. Hay created the cover art for some of Golden Earring's albums. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs " Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on the Dutch chart, reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, and went to number thirteen on the United States chart, " Twilight Zone" in 1982, and " When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. During their career they had nearly 30 top-ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums. BarryHay1971TopPop

He has released three solo albums. ''Only Parrots, Frogs and Angels'' (1972) and ''Victory of Bad Taste'' (1987) both has little success. ''The Big Band Theory'' (2008) is available for online streaming. The Big Band Theory featured music from

Metropole Orkest The Metropole Orkest (Metropole Orchestra) is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz, big band and symphony orchestra. Com ...

. In 2009, he released a DVD of him and the Orkest performing the album live. In 1990, Hay lent his voice to the Dutch dub of the animated film " All Dogs Go to Heaven", providing the voice of Charlie. He later did this again for the Dutch version of ''Fern Gully'' and for ''Hanekam de Rocker'' (together with his bandmate George Kooymans ). In 1999 he played a small role - as himself - in ''An Amsterdam Tale'' . In 1994, he sang lead vocals and played

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...

on the Ayreon song " Sail Away to Avalon", the single from the latter's debut album, '' The Final Experiment''. During the 2000s, Hay provided the Dutch voice of Rock Zilla in the Canadian cartoon show '' My Dad The Rock Star,'' and he appeared in an advertisement for prescription sunglasses. In 2016, Hay released an album with side-project Flying V Formation, and his biography. In December 2017, the Flying V released a cover of The Ronettes' 1963 hit song " Be My Baby". In 2019, Hay released an album with musician JB Meijers ( The Common Linnets); ''For You Baby'', which contains Latin-flavoured cover versions and includes '' Blue Bayou'', a duet with Danny Vera. On 5 February 2021, the band's manager announced to the Dutch press that their active career was over due to George Kooymans' serious illness. In 2022, he released another album in collaboration with JB Meijers, titled "Fiesta de la Vida".

Personal life

Hay married Sandra Bastiaan on February 22, 1992. The couple have two daughters, born in 1990 (Bella Hay) and 1999. In 2001, Hay left The Hague and moved back to Amsterdam, although he now divides his time between the Netherlands and

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

, where he hosts a radio show.

Discography

Golden Earring (See full discography at

Golden Earring discography The discography of Dutch rock band Golden Earring, which consists of 25 studio albums, 8 live albums, 2 compilation albums, and 74 singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ' ...

) Solo * ''Only Parrots, Frogs and Angels'' (1972) * ''Victory of Bad Taste'' (1987) * ''The Big Band Theory'' (2008) * ''For You Baby'' (2019) * ''Fiesta de la Vida'' (2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Barry 1948 births Living people Dutch people of Scottish descent Dutch people of Jewish descent Dutch male singers Dutch rock singers Royal Academy of Art, The Hague alumni English-language singers from the Netherlands Golden Earring members People from Faizabad Musicians from The Hague Dutch album-cover and concert-poster artists Dutch flautists