Hayden (musician)

Paul Hayden Desser (born February 12, 1971)[2] who records as Hayden, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Thornhill, Ontario.[3]

His early works are a largely eclectic mix of genres from grunge to alternative country, as demonstrated by his first full album, Everything I Long For, released in 1995. Since then his work has become progressively more refined.

Desser’s father is Sherwin Desser, a retired University of Toronto professor of parasitology and current visual artist. Desser received a B.A.A. in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1993.[4]

Hayden entered his song “Take” in for CFNY-FM’s annual New Music Search competition in 1993. Hayden played guitar on the track and enlisted two friends (Lorraine Ursomarzo and Noah Mintz of hHead) to sing vocals. Hayden continued to recruit vocalists until 1995 when he began to showcase his grainy baritone. “Take” has never been officially released on any of Hayden’s albums.

Hayden released an independent cassette, In September, in 1994,[4] and followed with the album Everything I Long For in 1995.[4][5] Released on his own Hardwood Records with distribution by Sonic Unyon, the album was a commercial success.[4] He subsequently found himself in a bidding war between record labels in the United States, with one early offer coming directly from Neil Young, whose manager Elliott Roberts had just launched Vapor Records.[4]

He ultimately signed to Geffen Records’ subsidiary imprint Outpost Records, which gave him a contract worth over $1 million, along with complete creative control of his music, in what was widely reported as one of the most lucrative contracts ever given to a new artist in the alternative rock era.[6] Outpost rereleased the album in the US the following year.[7] Also in 1996, Hayden performed both nights of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Concert, and contributed the title track to the soundtrack for Steve Buscemi’s film Trees Lounge.[8]