Barry Hay

Biography

Barry Andrew Hay (born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, 16 August 1948) is a Dutch rock singer, best known for his 54 years as frontman of Golden Earring (1967-2021), the internationally most successful band to come out of The Netherlands. Hay also released three albums under his own name. Hay was born in India, spent most of his life living in Amsterdam and The Hague, but (since 2008) resides on the island of Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles). He was recruited as the new singer of the Golden Earrings (as Golden Earring was then named) in 1967, after brief stints with The Hague beat groups, Don't and The Haigs.

With Golden Earring, Hay enjoyed international chart success with singles such as Radar Love (1973), Twilight Zone (1982) and When The Lady Smiles (1984). Hay co-wrote much of Golden Earring's music (with George Kooymans) and wrote many of the band's lyrics. In their home country Golden Earring had over 40 hits and made over 30 gold and platinum albums. They sold millions of albums worldwide.

Barry Hay released three solo albums under his own name. The first two - Only Parrots, Frogs & Angels (1972) and Victory Of Bad Taste (1987) - mostly consist of original material, whereas The Big Band Theory (2008) is a covers album, recorded 'big band style' with Amsterdam's Metropole Big Band. In 2012 he launched a new project: Barry Hay's Flying V Formation, a band in which Hay is backed by four young(er) musicians. The group's sole studio album came out in May 2016. From 2019 onwards Hay also recorded and released two albums with JB Meijers.