Гемма Хейс: Ирландская музыкант и автор песен

Irish musician

Gemma Hayes (born 11 August 1977) is an Irish musician, singer songwriter and composer. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments, including the piano and the harmonica. She is also a member of The Cake Sale, Printer Clips and Trio (with Lisa Hannigan and Paul Noonan).

Hayes grew up in Ballyporeen, Tipperary with her parents and seven other siblings. She was surrounded by music from an early age heavily influenced by her siblings and her father who was a keyboardist in a local band. Hayes would later move to County Limerick to attend boarding school. By this time, Hayes was proficient at piano and found that the music used to counter the boredom of living in a small village. She would later move to Dublin City to attend UCD to study sociology, psychology and history. Hayes soon dropped out of university to concentrate on her music and to gig at music venues across the city. This was subsidised by working part time in a laundrette. Hayes toured Europe and the US extensively upon the album's release performing at high profiled festivals such as Ireland's Witnness festival and Montreux Jazz Festival 2002 in Switzerland. After touring Night on my Side Hayes took two years out from the music industry; "All I do know is that I didn't want to listen to music at all. I stopped listening to the radio. It was like I'd overdosed on music". She did however find the time to record a cover of Lay Lady Lay with Magnet. This version appeared in Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

In 2004, Hayes moved from Dublin to Los Angeles.

On 14 August 2006 Hayes announced she had begun work on her third album in the Black Box Studios in France and produced by her former guitarist, David Odlum. The album was released in Ireland on 2 May 2008 debuting in the Irish Albums Chart at number 12. To support the album she put together a touring band featuring Joe Chester on guitar, Binzer Brennan on drums and Karl Odlum on bass. This lineup would go on to tour extensively in Ireland, the UK as well as some dates opening for My Bloody Valentine in the United States, including at All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate New York. Gemma and Joe would continue touring as a duo until April 2010. It was confirmed in January 2009 Hayes was nominated for Best Irish Female, at the 2009 Meteor Ireland Music Awards, which took place on 17 March 2009 in Dublin. She lost out to Imelda May. On 13 February 2009 the music video for the song "Home" debuted on MySpace. On 19 February 2009 she performed (with Joe Chester) at the Oscar Wilde party in Los Angeles. The annual event takes place days before the Oscars, and celebrates the best of Irish popular culture. On 22 February 2009, it was confirmed on her website she would release a new EP titled Oliver and available from 9 March 2009. The EP's release was delayed as confirmed on her
MySpace on 9 March. To make up for the delay in release a new track called "Ghost" was streamed on the website. On 13 March 2009 Oliver was made available through iTunes. On 14 April 2009 Hayes announced she had begun on new material for the next album. On 3 September 2009, Hayes performed at the 2012 stage at the 2009 Århus Festival. Her set list featured new songs "Waiting for You" and "Shock to the System". On 20 October 2009, she confirmed that she was recording new material in France in the Blackbox studios. On 19 November 2009, she began a short European tour with performances in Austria, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. During these tour dates Hayes played new songs including "Tokyo", "Waiting for You" and "Shock to the System". At her gig in Cork on 3 December, she performed a cover of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting". On 22 December 2009, Hayes released her cover of "Cloudbusting" for free from her website. In March 2010, Hayes featured on Ceol '10, a special album in the Irish language. She previously appeared on Ceol 2007. On the Ceol '10 album, Hayes' song "Rith me go Crich" appeared alongside Bell X1, Kila and The Walls.