Bonnie Hayes - Career 1980s

Career 1980s

After being signed by Huey Lewis and the News publishing company, Hayes signed with Chrysalis Records and, in 1987 released Bonnie Hayes, produced by Stewart Levine (UB40). This album, recorded and mixed in Los Angeles, favors Bonnie's pop sensibility and, with layered horns, sheets of keyboards, dense backing vocals, and lots of processed reverb, the production colors of choice in the L.A. pop scene at the time. The record was not a commercial success. "Some Guys", the first single from the Chrysalis record, was later released by Cher, and was Hayes's first commercial cover.

In 1988, Hayes and Savage, having signed a deal with Muscle Records and Miles Copeland, went into Soma Sync Studios in San Francisco. The duo was joined by Bonnie's brother Chris (HLN) and Wild Combo member Paul Davis on guitars, Benny Reitveld (Santana, Miles Davis) on bass and Dennis Chambers (Parliament, John Scofield, Santana) on drums. Due to difficulties between Muscle and Copeland, the album was never released.

Later that year Hayes joined the traveling band of former Go-Go Belinda Carlisle for a world tour.

In 1989, Bonnie Raitt heard Hayes' catalog through the auspices of their publisher, Bob Brown of Bob-A-Lew music, and chose "Love Letter" and "Have a Heart" for her comeback release Nick of Time. The album was a smash hit, selling over 6 million copies in the US alone, and winning the Grammy for Record of the Year. The Hayes-penned "Have a Heart" was the top charting song on the album, rising to number 3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. Hayes was known in the business from that point on as a songwriter, to the detriment of her career as a performer. Hayes went on to place many songs with other artists, including Cher, Bette Midler, Natalie Cole, Robert Cray, David Crosby, Adam Ant and Booker T and the MGs.