Jonathan Hay (publicist)

Starting out in the music business as a publicist, Jonathan Hay worked with established recording artists and record labels alike.[8] His first professional project was with Quo, the short lived hip-hip duo that was signed to Michael Jackson's MJJ Productions.[11] Hay's first success was achieved with Days of the New, the multi-platinum rock band who had four hit singles.[12] In 2003, Travis Meeks, the lead singer of the group slammed the publicist for making unauthorized and premature disclosures, which the musician felt "actually damaged his chances" to advance his career.[13] Hay worked for Whitney Houston through her father's John Houston Entertainment company.[14] In 2005, Hay tried to promote Rihanna's debut single by "fabricat[ing] stories of Rihanna and Jay Z, leaking false rumors to tabloids, working with Internet message boards, etc." [15] Hay worked as a publicist for Suge Knight's Death Row Records and announced its catalog was being sold to Hasbro.[16][17] In 2012, Hay was part of a guardianship case involving teen actress Ariel Winter, a star on the TV series Modern Family, and her mother, Chrisoula "Crystal" Workman.[18] Hay testified and signed a declaration for Ariel Winter in favor of her staying with her sister Shanelle Workman Gray.[19]

On October 23, 2015, Hay appeared on Inside Edition and publicly apologized to Beyoncé for his story in the unauthorized biography Becoming Beyoncé.[20] Hay is in the book for his publicity stunt in 2005 for spreading rumors that Jay Z was dating Rihanna to boost the then 17-year-old's "Pon De Replay". Hay confessed that he started those rumors during a difficult time. "The PR stunt that I did was out of desperation to help break 'Pon de Replay,'" Hay said. "It was reckless and I didn't think it was going to work. I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick."[21] Neither Rihanna or Jay Z was aware of his machinations Hay told Newsday.[22] As he noted during an interview with HipHopDX:[23]

"In 2005 the rumor was just a pitch and a rumor to try and get people talking about Rihanna. It was never intended to be a big ordeal, it was just intended to get people asking, Who’s Rihanna? It was just gossip. If anything, I thought that it might trigger some interest about this new artist, just enough to give her single a boost and then the rumor would quickly dissipate. I never imagined 10 years later that it would be added to a Beyoncé book that is going to be a New York Times Bestseller. It was never meant to be malicious."

In December, Hay was in both Vogue and Vanity Fair for a recording project in Florida.[24][25] Hay spoke out in Rolling Stone magazine [March 24, 2016 (Issue 1257)] to publicly support Kesha during her sexual assault lawsuit against Dr. Luke.[26] The magazine called Hay a "crisis management expert".[27] Hay told The Sun that his frequent collaborator Cyhi The Prynce wrote the lyrics to "Famous", the song that caused the public battle between Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.[28] According to Hollywood Life, a source close to West said, "Cyhi is a creative contributor on the song, in which he has been credited accordingly. However, the specific Taylor lyrics were written by Kanye himself."[29]

Hay had involvement with the Drake and Sophie Brussaux pregnancy scandal.[30] He told People Magazine "I've seen the text messages and they do exist" in reference to conversations purportedly from Drake, urging Brussaux to undergo an abortion.[31] Hay has spoken out about this situation with Perez Hilton,[32] Glamour Magazine (in the Netherlands),[33] Hollywood Life[34] and Public Magazine (in France).[35] Hay spoke about the Kathy Griffin and Donald Trump photo scandal to The Huffington Post calling her press conference "flat-out gross".[36] He explained, "From a PR perspective, she did do the right thing, by apologizing … but still that isn't enough. Not even close."[37] From the viewpoint of a crisis publicist, Hay was quoted in The New York Times about XXXTentacion's posthumous album release Skin.[38]

After being a publicist for over two decades, Hay started producing music full-time.[11]

Jonathan Hay had production involvement with Prince for "When Will We Be Paid", a cover song originally performed by The Staple Singers.[39] Hay co-founded SMH Records with Mike Smith, a Charlotte, North Carolina based record label.[40][41] Hay and Smith got into a public dispute with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian over the song "These Walls Revisted" and a charity auction of an original painting of West, where it was alleged that 100% of the proceeds would go to Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, the couples charity of choice.[42] On June 20, 2013, Kardashian West's attorney issued a cease and desist to Hay and stated:[43]

"While our clients certainly have no objections to yours and Mr. Michael A. Smith’s desire to donate money to the Charity, and in fact would applaud your making a donation, you cannot do so under the guise that it is pursuant to a request by our clients, that your activity is sanctioned or approved by Ms. Kardashian and Mr. West, or are involved in any way with your ‘charity auction.’ Yet, this is exactly what you have done. The construction and phrasing of this advertisement — first referencing our clients’ request that charitable donations be made in lieu of baby gifts, your comment that the Charity that will purportedly receive the proceeds of the auction is our clients’ ‘charity of choice,’ and your reference to a painting of Mr. West first seen in one of his music videos — creates a very strong impression that our clients are connected to or otherwise involved in your venture."

Hay was a co-executive producer on "Sex, Money and Hip-Hop" by Crooked I of Eminem's group Slaughterhouse.[44] Hay executive produced an album featuring Kentucky artists and film star Johnny Depp.[45] Depp also appeared on the SMH Records album Fear of a Pink Planet by Pink Grenade, released in July 2014, containing 18 hip-hop songs written by Hay.[46][47]

Hay was a music producer on the TV show "One Shot" with T.I., RZA, DJ Khaled, Tech N9ne, Sway Calloway and others.[48] The show debuted on BET on August 23, 2016.[49] Hay, Smith and King Tech (Sway & Tech) released the studio album When Music Worlds Collide that features many popular rap artists from several different eras. It was released as a streaming-only album, with a "Spotify vs. TIDAL" challenge and received national coverage on Fox News,[50] Billboard,[51] and Business Insider.[52] Hay produced "Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)", a song about suicide and alcohol abuse as a tribute to the late Keith Whitley released on what would have been his 60th birthday.[53] The video for "Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)" premiered on MTV News.[54]

In June 2016, Hay produced a single that was released through Snoop Dogg's relaunched record label Doggy Style Records. In August, Hay took a stand against Afrika Bambaataa with a remix featuring Ron "Bee Stinger" Savage.[55] In the diss track, Jonathan replays the notes from Bambaataa's song "Planet Rock" while Savage speaks out about child molestation[56] In September, Hay released The Long Beach Crook Playlist with Kxng Crooked and The Stoned Mountain Playlist with Cyhi The Prynce.[57][58] In April 2017, Hay was a producer on the viral song "Kylie's Daddy" about reality television personality Kylie Jenner that debuted on TMZ.[59] Hay and Kxng Crooked produced "Too Ashamed", a sequel song to "Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)" and explained to Billboard Magazine that "working on 'Too Ashamed' was a very emotional recording experience for everyone involved."[60] In November, Hay produced "Pawn Shop," featuring Eminem's artist Conway The Machine.[61] He also co-produced "Jack in the Box" with Riff Raff.[62] In December, Hay co-produced the singles "Homewrecker" for Kxng Crooked[63] and "The Boardwalk" with Twista.[64]

In January 2018, Hay's album Jazz (Deluxe) hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts.[65][66] In February, Hay produced "Jazzmine" for Riff Raff, a remake on the classic "A Whole New World" from the animated Disney film Aladdin.[67][68] In May The Whoodlum Ball with DJ Whoo Kid was released and it hit multiple Billboard Charts including #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers, #9 Rap Albums and #11 Independent.[69] On September 15, Smith and Hay peaked at #14 on the Billboard Charts (and #5 Billboard Christian Streaming Chart) with the single "Beautiful Day" featuring Bubba Sparxxx.[70][71] Hay was one of the producers of Juicy J's moderate hit "Don't You Wanna".[72] On July 15 Jazz Part Two was released and hit #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts.[73][74]

On July 26, Hay released Follow the Leader, a cover of Eric B. & Rakim's album in the style of jazz with Benny Reid that hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts and was up for Grammy consideration.[75][76][77] Follow the Leader: Re-Imagined as Jazz was released on December 13, 2019 in physical formats.[78] In an interview with Billboard, Hay said:[79]

"This was a magical evening when Benny Reid and I worked on this 'Follow the Leader' remix at the legendary Quad Recording Studios," Hay explains. "I literally met the love of my life that night. The album had just hit No. 1 on the Jazz [Albums] charts and we signed a worldwide distribution deal with Fat Beats, along with a licensing deal with Seven Seas Music. It was crazy!"

Inspired by the business model of Elrow Music, Hay and Sarah Rush started a Techno record label that's distributed through Fat Beats.[80]

Hay is a Leesburg, Florida native.[81] He was adopted as a child by Donald and Nancy Stivers.[82][83] His biological parents are Ron Bradley (Lakeland, Florida) and Pamela Nicely (Ashtabula, Ohio).[84] With the help of 23andMe, he met his biological mom for the first time in February 2017.[85]

On April 20, 2017, Hay and his teenage daughter Iliana Eve were victims of a home invasion and were held at gunpoint and duct-taped. Hay told the New York Daily News:[86]

"My young daughter was pistol whipped so hard she fell to the ground and her glasses broke. There's no way anyone deserves that kind of violence, especially a little girl. It was a traumatizing ordeal as they were threatening to kill my child and I the entire time. They kept putting pillows to my head with a gun pressed in. For my daughter to experience such horror is truly evil. To have guns pointed at her and to see her Dad duct-taped are images she will probably never be able to escape for the rest of her life."

The suspect was arrested and charged with first degree robbery, two counts of kidnapping, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, receiving stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts fraudulent use of a credit card.[87] WHAS-TV reported that St. Matthews Police arrested two suspects and a third was indicted on kidnapping and robbery charges.[61]

With the help of Ranna Royce, Hay channeled that trauma into his chart topping Jazz (Deluxe) and Jazz Part Two releases. In an interview he said, "We were coming back to my place, and when we were coming up to the door, we were attacked from behind," he recalls. "We didn't even see him coming. And next thing you know, we're thrown into my house, duct taped, he had a mask on … it was traumatic. We had guns all over us, the whole time we thought we were gonna die." "All the songs come from that place," Hay explains.[88]

He is an advocate for marijuana and its potential to treat PTSD.[74]