Bonnie Hayes is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States, and currently lives between Los Angeles and New York City. Her songs have been recorded by

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Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...

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and Booker T and the MGs.

Early life and education

Hayes is the eldest of seven children and she attended Washington High School and

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. Her brother, Chris, was the lead guitarist for

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Adult Contempora ...

, and another brother, Kevin, the drummer with the

Robert Cray Band Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed ...

. Her family moved to San Francisco from the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

in 1970 and Hayes joined the jazz fusion band Sweetmeat, and taught piano and music theory at Blue Bear School of Music.

Career

In the early 1980s, Hayes founded the new wave band The Punts, and released the single, "Shelly's Boyfriend". In 1982, the band was signed by

Slash Records Slash Records was an American record label originally specializing in local punk rock bands, active from 1978 to 2000. It was notable as one of the first and most successful independent record labels in alternative rock, alternative music, befor ...

and changed the name to 'Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo'. A song from the album ''Good Clean Fun'' called "Girls Like Me" appeared in the 1983 movie, ''

Valley Girl A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...

''. Her album, ''Brave New Girl'' was released on Bondage Records. Hayes and her band toured as the opening act for

. After being signed by Huey Lewis and the News's publishing company, Hayes signed with Chrysalis Records and in 1987 released the album, ''Bonnie Hayes''. "Some Guys", the first single from the record, was recorded by

. In 1988, Hayes signed with

Muscle Records Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...

and Miles Copeland. She recorded an album that was never released. Later that year, she became a member of

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist. Raised in ...

's band for her world tour. In 1989,

recorded Hayes' songs, "Love Letter" and "Have a Heart", for her ''Nick of Time'' album. The Hayes "Have a Heart" song was the top-charting song on the album, rising to number 3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. In 1991, Hayes joined

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on tour for almost two years in support of his record " Charmed Life". In 1996, Hayes was signed to Fuel Records and recorded the album, ''Empty Sky''. One song from the album, "Bottomless", was previously recorded by

. In 2004, Hayes released ''Love in the Ruins'', written after she had learned to play the guitar. The record shows the strong songwriting for which she is known and a capricious rough-edged quality evocative of her first record with a rootsier, Americana sound. She has taught at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, the

Stanford Jazz Workshop Stanford Jazz Workshop (SJW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to jazz education and the annual concert series known as the Stanford Jazz Festival. SJW was founded in 1972 by saxophonist and educator Jim Nadel. Though many of its activities a ...

, the REO Songwriting Retreat outside of Vancouver B.C, the ASCAP workshops in Los Angeles, and at the WCS Conference at Foothill College. In 2013, Hayes became chair of the songwriting department at

Berklee Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston. In 2022, she returned to the Bay Area to found a youth All Star Songwriting Program at Blue Bear School of Music.

Reception

A reviewer at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that Hayes' album, ''Good Clean Fun'', is "probably the finest album of the entire early-'80s California girl pop scene" and "a neglected '80s pop masterpiece." The rock music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

said that on that album Hayes "comes off smarter, surer, and more sisterly than just about any new rock and roll woman I can think of."Good Clean Fun review
by Robert Christgau

Albums

''Good Clean Fun'' (1982)

This album was released on CD on September 18, 2007. * Label: Slash Records * Label record ID: SR-112

Track listing

# "Girls Like Me" (B. Hayes) # "Shelly's Boyfriend" (B. Hayes/Savage) # "Separating" (B. Hayes/Savage) # "Dum Fun" (B. Hayes/Savage) # "Coverage (B. Hayes) # "Inside Doubt" (B. Hayes/Savage) # "Joyride (B. Hayes) # "Loverboy (B. Hayes) # "Raylene" (B. Hayes) # "The Last Word" (B. Hayes)

Reviews

''Brave New Girl'' (1984)

(With the Wild Combo)

Track listing

# "Brave New Girl" (B. Hayes, S. Savage) # "Incommunicado" (B.Hayes, S. Savage) # "After Hours" (B. Hayes, S. Savage) # "Wild Heart" (B. Hayes, S. Savage, P. Davis) # "Maria" (B. Hayes, S. Savage) # "Night Baseball" (B. Hayes, P. Davis)

''Bonnie Hayes'' (1987)

* Label: EMI Distribution * ASIN: B00000EEA9 Track Listing # "Some Guys" (Golde, Hayes) 3:40 # "To See You Again" (Davis, Golde, Hayes, Sitkin) 2:59 # "The Real Thing" (Hayes) 3:46 # "Coax Me, Chad" (Golde, Hayes) 4:04 # "Time Stands Still" (Hayes) 5:36 # "Soul Love" (Hayes, Hayes, Rietveld) 4:17 # "Skeletons Dancing" (Safan) 4:42 # "Chance on You" (Hayes) 3:45 # "Whole Wide World" (Davis, Hayes) 3:51 # "Joyful Noise" (Hayes) 4:23

''Empty Sky'' (1996)

* Label: Beacon * ASIN: B00000DPGU Track Listing # "My Brave Face" # "Hieroglyphics" # "Too Far to Fall" # "Things You Left Behind" # "Ode to Billie Joe" # "Love Letter" # "Out of the Loop" # "Learning to Fly" # "Bottomless" # "Freedom Calling" # "The Moment of True Feeling" # "Bed of Roses"

''Love In the Ruins'' (2003)

* Label: Bondage Records * ASIN: B00008US5V

Track listing

# "Beautiful Ideal" # "I Can't Stop" # "Greener Grass" # "Keeping the Hum Going" # "Still Wild" # "Stealing Roses" # "Everybody Wins" # "Turn Down Love" # "Vintage People" # "Money Makes You Stupid"

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Bonnie American women singer-songwriters American rock singers American rock songwriters Living people Women new wave singers Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Place of birth missing (living people) San Francisco State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from California 21st-century American women