Hayley Hutchinson

Hayley Hutchinson is a British singer-songwriter blessed with an exceptional voice, a remarkable songwriting talent and a fierce sense of independence. Hayley is the daughter of John 'Spider' Hutchinson, who played with David Bowie in the 1960s and in the 1970s as one of the 'Spiders From Mars'. She was born in Northumbria in 1981, and much of her childhood was spent living in a croft in Scotland. This was until she moved to York where she recorded her self-financed debut album ‘Independently Blue' in 2005. The album is a dazzling collection of haunting folk lullabies and rootsy acoustic pop that merited a Guardian Single of the Week, extensive BBC Radio 2 airplay and caused Uncut magazine to herald her as a ‘love-starved Joni Mitchell’. Following this, Hayley toured relentlessly, supporting the likes of Richard Thompson, Ray Davies, Conor Oberst and Kurt Wagner and was handpicked to open the acoustic stage at the Glastonbury festival. In 2006 Hayley returned to the studio to record the bluegrass influenced ‘Held To Ransom’ EP that illustrated her deep musical heritage and coincided with Hayley’s debut appearance at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. The rest of the year saw Hayley spend an increasing amount of time in America where she recorded the song ‘Pocket Full Of Stars’ with Nine Black Alps for the Oscar nominated film ‘Surf’s Up’ and formed the band The Sorry Kisses with Sam Forrest of Nine Black Alps. The Sorry Kisses further showcased Hayley's diverse songwriting talents by delving into harmony drenched, West Coast rock music on two acclaimed albums which were featured on Nic Harcourt's KCRW radio show in Los Angeles. In 2007, Hayley teamed up with the acclaimed singer-songwriter Iain Archer to co-produce her second album ‘Love Songs For The Enemy’ in the German Black Forest. The album revealed a much darker and more mature set of songs that reflected the more sombre side of musicians such as Neil Young and Gillian Welch. Following this, Hayley moved to a cottage in rural North Yorkshire. It was here in 2009 that she started work on her next musical project, her third album 'Ghosts In The Trees'. In contrast to her previous work, Hayley decided to sing other peoples' songs and in doing so asked her Sorry Kisses bandmate Sam Forrest to pen her an albums worth of songs. So in their home studio, the pair spent long November nights crafting an intricate and magical world that recalls the likes of Harry Nilsson, Judee Sill, the film soundtracks of Danny Elfman even a note perfect cover of Francoise Hardy's 'Tout Les Garcons Et Les Filles'.