Roy Hay

Composer / Principal

Roy Hay, a multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning artist, began his journey in England.   

He was born into a musical family whose father was an accomplished jazz and big band musician.  Roy is a classically trained musician and composer who studied with Trinity College of Music in London. 

He began his musical career at age 20 in London as a founding member of the band Culture Club in 1982. 

Roy has been recognized as the principal songwriter and music arranger for many of Culture Club’s hit songs, including “Do you Really Want to Hurt Me?” “Time,” “Miss me Blind,” and “Karma Chameleon” as well as countless others.With Culture Club, he has sold over 50 million records worldwide, including 6 million BPI certified records in the UK and over 7 million RIAA certified records in the US.  

He has received multiple awards and recognitions, including the 1984 Brit Award for best British group, the Grammy for best new artist and Best British Single for “Karma Chameleon,” and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll with “Time (Clock of the Heart).”   

In 1989, launching his career in Los Angeles, he formed his own music production company, Haywired Music, working with Sony Music and many of their artists, where he wrote and produced a multitude of songs across a variety of genres. Various artists included The Beach Boys, Denice Williams, Brenda K. Starr, and Kim Basinger.  

In 1995, Roy collaborated with B5 Music to compose and produce the music for the “Planet Reebok” Super Bowl campaign.  He continued working with B5 Music where he composed and produced over 100 commercials for multinational clients including Coca-Cola and Nike. 

By 1997, Hay’s musical gifts caught the attention of Hans Zimmer, one of Hollywood’s most innovative composers and producers.  Zimmer recruited him to his media company, Media Ventures, introducing Hay into audio and visual composition and production for television and film. 

 Subsequently, Hay has been involved in many television shows, including: two ABC network shows, “Gun” with director Robert Altaman, “Cracker” with actor Robert Pastorali, and, from 2000-2002, the hit USA network show, “The Dead Zone.”  He also composed the score for a number of movies including “ Out for a Kill” starring Stephen Seagal  & “The Breed” with Adrian Paul. 

Hay then returned to the Live Music arena where, together with APA agency, created the first “Big Rewind” tour featuring various 80s bands including Culture Club.

In recent years, Hay and Culture Club have been touring again and performed over 100 shows including 2 sold-out shows with the LA Philharmonic at The Hollywood Bowl in 2016. He recently built a new studio in the LA area where he is currently working on various projects for television and film.   

Roy Hay is represented by Rich Jacobellis at Fortress Management and is an ASCAP writer. 

Culture Club is represented by The William Morris Agency and  Paul Kemsley Management.