Colin Hay

In 1978, Hay met Ron Strykert and the men began playing acoustic music as a duo. Hay and Strykert formed the core of the band Men at Work, with Hay on vocals, guitar and keyboards and Strykert on guitar, vocals and bass guitar. Hay and Strykert added Jerry Speiser (drums), John Rees (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Greg Ham (flute, saxophone, keyboards, vocals).[3] The group released their debut album, Business as Usual, in 1981.

The success of Men at Work, and of their albums Business as Usual and Cargo, prompted Hay to relocate to Los Angeles in 1989.[4] He settled in the Topanga region of the city and has resided in the United States since. In January 2016 he became a US citizen.[5]

Hay joined as guest vocalist with the Incredible Penguins in 1985 for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December.[6][7]

Following the breakup of Men at Work in 1985, Hay released several major label solo albums, including Looking for Jack (Columbia) and Wayfaring Sons (MCA), to differing commercial success. In 2011, Hay commented on his early solo career, stating, "After Men at Work, for the better part of a decade, I was stumbling around being unfocused. It was pre-internet; I really had to try to find my audiences by going out on tour. Men at Work really didn't build a foundational audience. We came in as a pop band with enormous radio success; once that goes away and the band breaks up the audience tends to go away with it. You're left with what you want to make of it. When you start out doing those tours, you start again [and] you tend not to attract a very big number of people. I'd play to a hundred people or sometimes less."[8]

In 2004 he contributed to the Garden State soundtrack with his solo song "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You".

In addition to recording, Hay also established his own recording label, Lazy Eye Records,[9] somewhat incorrectly named for his own divergent ocular condition (exotropia, or divergent strabismus; the usage of lazy eye generally refers to amblyopia). He has made appearances in cult movies such as Cosi and in television shows such as The Larry Sanders Show, JAG, The Mick Molloy Show, A Million Little Things, and Scrubs.[10] along with episodes of ABC's What About Brian, NBC's The Black Donnellys, CBS's Cane, and the BBC hospital drama Casualty, have included performances of some of his previous songs; in Scrubs he performs an acoustic version of the Men at Work hit "Overkill".

In December 2005, Hay and Heather Mills released "My Brilliant Feat" as a charity single as a tribute to football player George Best, who died on 25 November of that year. Proceeds were forwarded to the Donor Family Network, supporting organ donor families and promoting organ and tissue donation. The single is available on iTunes with a bonus music-video tribute to Best.[11][12]

In 2006 Hay provided his voice for one of the characters in the animated movie The Wild. He has also been a member of Ringo Starr's eighth, tenth and thirteenth All-Starr Bands. He continues to perform regularly, including playing some folk venues. On 13 February 2009, former Men at Work band member Ron Strykert was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Hay.[13][14]

Hay released his 10th album, "American Sunshine", on 18 August 2009 on Compass Records.

In 2009, Hay's former group, Men at Work, was named in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by Larrikin Music, which owns the rights to the "Kookaburra" song. Larrikin Music claimed that part of a flute riff from the band's 1981 single "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra" originally written by a music teacher, Marion Sinclair, who died in 1988. In February 2010, a court ruled in favour of Larrikin Music. Although the petition from Larrikin Music requested 40% to 60% of royalties dating back to 1981 and future royalties, in July 2010 a judge awarded the plaintiff only 5% of royalties dating back to 2002 and the same amount of future royalties.[15]

In May 2009, Hay performed at the Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California. Performing alongside Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Fee Waybill of the Tubes, Venice, and over 70 members of the Santa Monica High School Orchestra and Girls Choir, the benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of music education in public schools. In August 2010, Hay performed in Missoula, Montana with a Los Angeles Roots rock band named Patrolled By Radar.[16]

In December 2013, Hay announced on his website that he was done touring "for the time being" and would spend 2014 writing and recording.[17]

In 2015 he joined the Last Summer on Earth tour with Violent Femmes and Barenaked Ladies.

On 4 August 2015, Colin Hay: Waiting for my Real Life, a documentary film about the singer, debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival.[18]

Hay made an appearance on BNL Rocks Red Rocks by Barenaked Ladies, a live album recorded on the Last Summer on Earth 2015 tour.[19]

On 27 January 2017, he released the first single, "A Thousand Million Reasons", from his album Fierce Mercy which was released on 3 March 2017. He toured in support of the album throughout the US, UK and Australia. Also in 2017, Hay released his first audio book, Aesop's Fables with Colin Hay, published by Devault-Graves Digital Editions, for which he narrated 24 of Aesop's Fables written by author Tom Graves.

• Looking for Jack (1987)
• Wayfaring Sons (1990)
• Peaks & Valleys (1992)
• Topanga (1994)
• Transcendental Highway (1998)
• Going Somewhere (2001)
• Company of Strangers (2002)
• Man @ Work (2003)
• Are You Lookin' at Me? (2007)
• American Sunshine (2009)
• Gathering Mercury (2011)
• Next Year People (2015)
• Fierce Mercy (2017)

As featured artist

• Tour 2003 (2004)
• Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 (2010)