Justin Hayward

Born David Justin Hayward in Swindon on October 14, 1946, Justin Hayward acquired his first guitar at the age of nine. He entered professional music in 1965 by signing on with pre-Beatles English rocker Marty Wilde as a guitarist in the Wild Cats. Toward the close of that year, Hayward had four original compositions he judged ready for recording and therefore sought out former skiffle king-turned-producer Lonnie Donegan. Pye Records issued his debut solo single, “London Is Behind Me,” on December 31, 1965, yet it made no impression on the charts. The follow-up, “I Can't Face the World Without You,” appeared via Parlophone on August 26, 1966, and fared no better. Around the same period Hayward responded to an advertisement placed by Eric Burdon seeking a lead guitarist; the position had already been filled, but Burdon instead directed him toward the Moody Blues, then searching for a replacement guitarist and singer after Denny Laine’s departure. Following an audition with the group, Hayward completed its best-known lineup. For the ensuing six months the band continued performing its established R&B repertoire. Over time, however, the musicians began introducing fresh Hayward material into both live sets and studio plans, a development accelerated when Decca/London Records selected them to create a stereo demonstration album that combined rock instrumentation with orchestral arrangements. The resulting Days of Future Passed (1967) restored the group’s commercial momentum, propelled especially by the signature tracks “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” Hayward’s lush, romantic approach supplied the dominant template for the Moody Blues’ sound across the next seven years. Although every member contributed songs and vocals, Hayward emerged as the principal singer and songwriter, authoring such classics as “Lovely to See You,” “The Story in Your Eyes,” and “New Horizons.” When the band entered a hiatus in 1974, Hayward and bassist John Lodge recorded the duo album Blue Jays, which yielded the 1975 hit “Blue Guitar” featuring backing tracks supplied by 10cc. Hayward launched his solo career in 1977 with Songwriter, an album whose leaner, more animated, and acoustically oriented textures diverged from his Moody Blues work. Global success followed in 1978 when his Top Ten single “Forever Autumn” appeared on Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds album. Night Flight, his second solo release, arrived in 1980. Throughout the ensuing years he focused primarily on the reactivated Moody Blues and their extensive touring and recording commitments. A third solo album, Moving Mountains, surfaced in 1985 and recalled the stylistic character of his early-1970s output. Late in the decade the Moody Blues achieved renewed chart success with the Hayward compositions “Your Wildest Dreams” and “I Know You're Out There Somewhere,” the band’s final major hits. Hayward maintained a steady solo recording pace through the 1990s, issuing the orchestral Classic Blue in 1989, followed by The View from the Hill in 1996 and Live in San Juan Capistrano in 1998. The Moody Blues continue to draw substantial concert audiences, with Hayward, John Lodge, and drummer Graeme Edge constituting the surviving core of the original lineup. In 2005 ASCAP presented Hayward with its Golden Note Award for British songwriters, and in 2013 he received a second Ivor Novello award from the United Kingdom’s Performing Rights Agency. Also in 2013 he issued Spirits of the Western Sky, his first solo album since 1996. One year later he released the live acoustic collection Spirits…Live.