Auriol Hays

Auriol Hays was born and raised all over the Western Cape everywhere from Mitchells Plain to Eerst River. She grew up listening to classical music and whatever her parents liked, be it Jim Reeves or Roger Whitaker.As a child, she was very quiet hiding beneath what would later be revealed as an extraordinarily talented shell. As a teenager, she spread her small vocal wings a little, albeit to an audience of one – herself! And despite coming from a musical family where mum played piano and her brothers played guitar, Auriol kept her vocal talent and songwriting very much disguised.

Auriol Hays was born and raised all over the Western Cape everywhere from Mitchells Plain to Eerst River. She grew up listening to classical music and whatever her parents liked, be it Jim Reeves or Roger Whitaker.As a child, she was very quiet hiding beneath what would later be revealed as an extraordinarily talented shell. As a teenager, she spread her small vocal wings a little, albeit to an audience of one – herself! And despite coming from a musical family where mum played piano and her brothers played guitar, Auriol kept her vocal talent and songwriting very much disguised. It would be four whole years of marriage before Auriol even admitted to her husband that she had singing talent.

Her husband, Shane, stumbled upon her talent by chance when he found Auriol singing their newborn daughter to sleep. A chance meeting with songwriter / producer extraordinaire, Andre Scheepers, brought, was in now called, the Auriol Hays Project into fruition. Auriol and Andre met each other by accident through a girl called Sue, on a cold winter’s night in a small farm house next to a poultry processing plant in Muldersdrift, Johannesburg. Auriol needed a keyboard player.

Andre needed a new talent to mould. The result would be a top ten hit on 5fm’s Top Forty called Take It Slow. Andre couldn’t fathom the ethereal voice that was emitted from this Capetonian fire. He then listened to some of her home-demos, all of which were recorded on cassette.

Despite the antiquated recording, the songs and hook-lines were certainly evident. The single, Take It Slow, quickly ended up on radio play lists across the country and the team was rapidly approached by Electromode. Auriol was flown up to Johannesburg, twice in three days, to do a photo shoot, a music video shoot, two gigs, a live television performance in front of 9 million viewers and, of course, to sign a lucrative record deal. Andre’s and Auriol’s differing writing styles and influences would seem conflicting in any other circumstances.

But for some reason, it works!! Auriol is influenced by acts as varied as Radiohead and System of A Down, or Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald. Auriol writes about darker emotions and admits that she never writes happy loves songs. That she leaves all to Andre. Auriol admits that she oftentimes hijacks her husband’s beats (he is a part-time producer) when he’s asleep to write songs about aliens, world domination, monsters under the bed and interstellar travel.

These songs didn’t make it onto the album, but hold a place in the world of Auriol Hays none-the-less. Bass player to the stars, one Brendon Ou-Tim accompanies the pair on bass and double bass to complete the sexy alternative pop style of the Auriol Hays Project. Full album in stores NOVEMBER 2009. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..