Biography

Introduction

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

His early works are a largely eclectic mix of genres from grunge rock to alt country, as demonstrated by his first full album, Everything I Long For, released in 1995. Since then his work has become progressively quieter and more mature. His latest release, 2008's In Field & Town, is almost exclusively slow, acoustic, and more refined.

Hayden received a B.A.A. in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1993.

History

In 1996, Hayden performed both nights of Neil Young's annual Bridge School Concert.

In 1998, Hayden toured North America with a full band in support of The Closer I Get. After the release of The Closer I Get, Hayden was bought out from his contract with Universal Records for a large sum of money.^{[citation needed]} Full details have never become public.

In 2001 (and with no label support), Hayden very quietly distributed 100 hand-written, packaged and numbered copies of Skyscraper National Park to friends and independent record shops throughout Toronto. This was quickly followed by an additional 1,500 hand-numbered copies (this time with professionally printed liner notes). These copies were primarily sold at live shows. The critical success of these two limited-edition runs led to a full commercial release of the recording later that same year.

In 2004, Hayden released his long awaited follow up album, Elk Lake Serenade, and toured North America with Oshawa's Cuff the Duke acting as his back-up band.

From November 1-3, 2007, Hayden performed three small pre-European tour "warm-up" shows in Ontario and Quebec. They were the singer-songwriter's first official performances in three years.^{[citation needed]} He followed up with In Field & Town, released on January 15, 2008. His most recent album, The Place Where We Lived, was released on May 26, 2009.

His father is Sherwin Desser, a retired University of Toronto professor of parasitology and current visual artist.

Hardwood Records

In Canada, each of Hayden's albums have been issued by Hardwood Records, a small music label he owns. From its inception in 1994 until 2005, Hayden's own albums were all that the Hardwood label carried, but in 2005, Cuff the Duke released their second album on Hardwood, and Basia Bulat released her first full-length album on Hardwood in 2007.