Justin Hayward
 ...

     Justin has been involved in music-making since the age of 12, when he  began playing in several bands in the Swindon area. After his fifth music group, "All Things Bright", disbanded in 1964, he left Swindon with Marty Wilde as one of his "Wilde Three". Within one year of joining the Wilde Three, Justin departed to begin a promising solo career.

    Justin recorded a small number of semi-successful tracks on his own, after which he decided it wastime to return to a group. He applied for Eric Burdon's "The Animals", but his application was received too late. Fortunately, however, Eric Burdon mentioned Justin's name to Mike Pinder, who's band, theMoody Blues, had recently disbanded with the departure of Denny Laine and Clint Warwick. Mike, Ray, and Graeme took in Justin immediately, along with John Lodge, a bass guitarist who had played with Mike and Ray as a member of "El Riot and the Rebels".

    After several months of playing the old R & B tunes such as the Laine-era classic "Go Now", theMoodies finally received a record contract from Decca, a division of London records. The Moodies recorded Days of Future Passed, to which Hayward provided the two biggest hits, "Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)" (otherwise known as "Tuesday Afternoon"), and "Nights in White Satin". TheAfternoon (Tuesday?)" (otherwise known as "Tuesday Afternoon"), and "Nights in White Satin". The album was a smash, going up to the 3rd position on the charts.

    The Moodies recorded 6 more albums before breaking up in 1974, Hayward providing most of the popular songs on each album. Finally, the band decided to call it quits for a while, and each member went his own separate way.

    Justin's solo career, not surprisingly, was the most successful of the five. Blue Jays, recorded by Justin and John Lodge in 1975, was undoubtedly the most successful of all of the solo albums, climbing to the fourth position on the charts in England.

   Justin's next solo album, Songwriter, also did relatively well on the charts. Released in 1977, it marked the beginning of the Moodies transformation from a '60's psychedelic group to an '80's pop and synthesizer-based group.

    The Moodies reunited in 1978, recording Octave. Justin, remaining true to form, contributed some ofthe most popular tracks from the album, including "Driftwood", "Top Rank Suite", and "The Day We Meet Again".

    The reunion of the Moodies did not mark the end of Hayward's solo career, however. His next soloenture, Night Flight was released in 1980, at the height of disco fever. Not surprisingly, Justin kept with the spirit of the times, recording such disco-laced songs as "Night Flight", "Nearer To You", andHall and Oates' "I'm Sorry". This marked the first Moodies album, solo or otherwise, to feature covers of songs written by other musicians.

    The next Moodies release, Long Distance Voyager, is considered their "comeback" album. Haywardwrote several of the songs on this album, including "The Voice" and "Gemini Dream" (with John Lodge). The next album, The Present, did not do as well on the charts, but contained some equally beautiful songs penned by Hayward: "Blue World", "Meet Me Halfway", and "Running Water".

    Justin's next solo album, Moving Mountains, did not do especially well on the charts, but did contain some excellent compositions, including "Silverbird" and the title track. Justin's next big hit came on the Moodies' next album, The Other Side of Life. "Your Wildest Dreams" became theMoodies' biggest hit since "Nights In White Satin". It served to introduce a whole new generation to he Moodies, selling millions of copies in the process. The video representation of the song receivedBillboard's "Video of the Year" award in 1985. Part two of the story, the video for "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" from Sur la Mer also received various awards.

    In 1990, during a lull in the band's musical output, Justin undertook a project with Mike Batt to covervarious famous rock classics in an orchestra setting. This project led to Classic Blue, Justin's next solo release. This album contains great covers of such classics as "Stairway to Heaven", "MacArthurPark", and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

    1991 saw the release of the band's next album, Keys of the Kingdom. Although it didn't see much
chart action, it contained "Say It With Love", another great Hayward tune, just one of the many songs the Moodies performed at 1992's A Night At Red Rocks with the Colorado SymphonyOrchestra. This album, along with the accompanying video which saw a great deal of airplay on PBS stations across the country, paved the way for the Moodies' Orchestra Tour of 1993 and 1994. Thistour was highly successful, putting Justin and the guys in the top ten grossing concert acts for severalmonths.

    Justin's latest musical release was a rather unexpected one, especially for Mr. Hayward himself. A German record company, MMS Records, released an album titled FRO Classic Moody Blues Hits with Justin Hayward and Friends. This album contained several covers of most of the Moodies greatest hits, including "Blue Guitar", a Hayward solo release which was performed with 10cc in 1975. Justin contributed vocals to this project, but, apparently, did not receive any payment for this release. This impasse has since been resolved.

    Now, Justin has released his very latest project, The View From the Hill, which promises moregreat songs from Justin, as well as collaboration with a class rock 'n roll act, Phil Palmer. Justin has toured the country, solo, in support on this album, and sales have been so upbeat that the recordcompany, CMC International, has asked him to do another solo album with them, an offer he hasaccepted.

    As you can see, Justin Hayward is a very integral part of the Moodies. Without his unmistakable voicegracing their albums, much of the magic of the Moodies would disappear.

Vancouver, BC 1979

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