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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).
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. Hayes was nominated for "Best Irish Female" at the 2009 Meteor Ireland Music Awards (the award went 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 Academy Award, and celebrates the best of Irish popular culture.
On 22 February 2009, it was confirmed on her website she would release a new Extended play titled Oliver EP 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 EP 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 Arhus. 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 City 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.
During the recording process Hayes took time out between recording sessions and live performances to write material for independent movie Janie Jones, by directed by David M. Rosenthal. Three of Hayes' tracks; "Just a Game", "Fight for Me" and "Hurricane" featured in the film. This soundtrack was later released on 11 October 2011. It also features the studio version of "Waiting for You" which she played as a promo track and on her tours throughout 2010 and 2011.
On 13 February 2011, Hayes confirmed on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Pat Kenny her fourth studio album would be released by May 2011 and this coincided with a tour across Ireland.[1] Hayes confirmed on her official website the fourth album Let It Break was due for May release with a single due earlier as recording in Ireland and France neared completion. Gemma confirmed 'Shock to the System' will appear on the album. On 15 March 2011, she confirmed that a track called "Noise" will feature on the album. The album, Let It Break, released on 27 May 2011 in Ireland.
During promotion of 'Let It Break', Hayes confirmed she had written two songs for Michael Uppendahl (director of US TV series Mad Men, Weeds, and Becker) for a forthcoming film directed by him.
Paul Noonan of Bell X1 confirmed Hayes would appear on his solo debut album Noonan has previously worked on Hayes' previous albums. This album was released in May 2014, where Hayes provides vocals on 'The Snowman'.
In June 2012, Hayes announced she began work on writing new tracks and she planned to move to Los Angeles. This move was later shelved where she continued to reside in Dublin.
On 30 June 2012, Hayes played the Concert At Sea festival in The Netherlands. On 15 July 2012, new songs recorded by Hayes appeared on iTunes through the Velvet Ear Collection. These new tracks included "All The Kids Go" which previously appeared on US TV show Dance Moms, "Jet" a demo version of what became "There's Only Love" featured on Let It Break album and other tracks including "Devastated" and "Simple Life" also featured. "Simple Life" proved to be the most popular of the tracks peaking in the Irish iTunes chart at number 35 upon its debut on the chart.
On 9 August 2012, Hayes confirmed through e-mail to fans she continued to work on new material. She also revealed she was working with David Odlum on his side-project and she also hinted at the release of a live album due for 2013 (this release was later postponed). Hayes confirmed a new tour dates for both Ireland and the UK beginning in October 2012.
In September 2012, she featured in a campaign called "30 Songs / 30 Days" to support , a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book.
On 16 November 2012, SPAR Ireland confirmed via their official Facebook page their 2012 Christmas advertisement, featuring a Christmas themed track performed by Hayes and Jape. On 21 November 2012, Hayes confirmed she would record her upcoming gig in Dublin's Olympia on 9 December to release it as a live album in early 2013. On 22 April 2013 Hayes confirmed through an email to fans she hoped to release a special limited vinyl featuring live performances gathered at some of her tour dates. Each limited edition vinyl will be numbered and signed by the artist herself. She also confirmed to have written some new songs and is expected to go into the studio soon to record them for the forthcoming LP.
Chasing Sparks was the name given for a future extended play release which has since been postponed. It was expected to be released as a download in mid-December 2012. On 21 November 2012, she confirmed the release of the EP. It was confirmed on 28 November 2012 that her version of Cloudbusting was expected to appear on the EP.[2] It was confirmed on 23 December 2012 that a cover of Sparklehorse' 'Beautiful Widow' was to feature on the EP with vocals from Jack Savoretti.
On 16 August 2013, on her new official website Hayes provided more details about the PledgeMusic campaign. Here Hayes revealed the title of the planned live vinyl release 'Night & Day'.
On 21 September 2013 it was confirmed that Hayes' PledgeMusic campaign was completed. On 3 December 2013 Hayes was interviewed by Hot Press magazine where she discussed the album's recording moving to the UK, after demos and recordings set in France and Dublin.
On 10 April 2014, Hayes revealed through her Facebook page three titles of new songs to feature on the album due in the summer. These tracks include "To Be Your Honey", "Palomino" and "Making My Way Back". A 15-second live recording of "Be Your Honey" was also revealed. Hayes also confirmed mixing and mastering will take place in France in the coming month as Hayes finishes recording in London. In April 2014, Hayes performed a number of UK gigs prior to the forthcoming fifth studio album. These gigs were part of her Pledge Music campaign. Hayes is expected to tour the rest of Europe in the fall following the release of her new album due late summer 2014.
On 9 July 2014 David Odlum (producer of Bones+Longing) confirmed the album was mixed and mastered. On 29 July 2014 Hayes' manager Simon Long confirmed a photoshoot took place to promote the forthcoming album release. On 1 August 2014 Hayes confirmed through her Pledge Music page her fifth studio album is titled Bones + Longing.
On 23 August 2014, Hayes performed alongside Paul Noonan as part of Paul Noonan on RTÉ's Saturday Night with Miriam. Both artists performed 'The Snowman'. Hayes also confirmed her support of Printer Clips across Ireland in December 2014.
On 14 November Bones+Longing was released in Ireland, with a release in the UK & North American on 17 November. It received a wider international release in on 2 March 2015 and 6 March 2015 in German speaking territories.
She is the featured vocalist on "Counting Down The Days" by Above & Beyond which is the fourth single from their album, We Are All We Need.
In March 2015 she was briefly reunited with Joe Chester for some filmed promotional appearances in France and Ireland, including RTE's The Works, TG4's Imeall and appearances on RTL 2 and Le Bruit des Graviers in Paris, playing versions of Shock to my System, Wicked Game, Out of our Hands and To Be Your Honey.
In late 2015, Hayes confirmed she began writing some new tracks and hoped to release some new material in the coming months.
In 2016, Hayes appeared as part of Starboard Home; a compilation featuring tracks by Irish artists for the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme. "Caught In The Rapids" illustrated Hayes describing the relationship between rivers and city life, the song is written about the River Liffey in Dublin. Teaming up with many other Irish artists she performed at the Starboard Home event on June 22, 2016, in Dublin.
On February 2, 2019, Hayes performed at a special event hosted at the Irish Embassy in London which celebrated Irish women and their contribution to arts and Irish culture.
Commencing from September 2020, Hayes initiated work on her sixth album, collaborating with some of the producers and musicians from her previous album, "Night on My Side".
On 9 April 2021, Hayes shared snippets of new material during the recording process of her upcoming album.
Originally slated for an autumn 2021 release, the album's launch was postponed until late 2024 due to ongoing recording and COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland. The recording sessions took place between 2021 and late 2023 between West Cork and Dublin, with David Odlum serving as the producer.
Throughout the summer of 2022, Hayes staged several live performances in Ireland, with additional shows for the UK in 2023 and a full UK tour in spring 2023. Turning Pirate initially announced that the first single from her new album would be "A Reminder of Another", but it was later confirmed that "High & Low" would be released as the first single on 23 June 2023.
Prior to her sixth studio album release Blind Faith, Hayes continued to release singles throughout 2024 including "Feed the Flames" on 25 January and "Hardwired" on 10 May, with a fourth single, "Another Love" scheduled for release in August 2024.
The album's release will be preceded by spring/summer tour of Ireland and a UK tour in September 2024. D2C+ has also confirmed the release of Gemma's back catalogue, with specific dates yet to be determined.
On 2 July 2024, the release date for Hayes's sixth studio album, Blind Faith, was confirmed for 27 September 2024. The artwork and track listing were revealed on July 23, 2024.
In 2020, Hayes moved back to Ireland, where she resides in West Cork.
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