Barry Hay
From the first wish list for Night of the Proms, Barry Hay was listed; and now he will be on stage of the Night of the Proms in the fall of 2010 in the Ahoy and the Gelredome.
Barry Hay became the singer of 1967 of Golden Earring, one of the most successful Dutch rock bands, and left his mark with his voice, lyrics and stage act on the band.
The first no.1 hit of the band was the fantastic Back Home, followed by She Flies On Strange Wings and Buddy Joe. Barry himself, wrote the super hit Radar Love. At that time, Golden Earring toured with bands like Aerosmith, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd. And then, it slowed down, the end of the ’70s; the success was gone.
Later on, in 1982, Golden Earring records the LP Cut that was meant as their final farewell record: Twilight Zone becomes a huge success and about two years later, When the Lady smiles continues that success. And like they could not handle the last years of the decade, the success slows down again at the end of the ’80s, also due to different non-musical problems. In the beginning of the ’90s the well received record Going to the run is released. After that, more albums were released yet without real hits.
| Golden Earring remains touring these days with success both national as international, sometimes with a weird schedule (Barry Hay lives on Curaçao which results in the band taking a month of holiday after each month of touring). In September of 2008, Barry Hay releases his solo album The Big Band Theory at Blue Note, recorded with the Metropole Orkest; the cd with classics from e.g. The Rolling Stones, Lovin’ Spoonful, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Robert Palmer is praised and despised by others. The band will release a new cd in 2010. |  |
Even at age 62, Barry Hay remains a legend. Golden Earring, of which he’s the front man, spoke to at least 3 generations of rock fans across the world in the last 45 years; today, his hits are still modern. The Rolling Stones and U2 like to play Radar Love that was used as the campaign song for Bill Clinton in 1992 (When the lady smiles was used as the campaign song of Hillary Clinton, a not understandable choice).
According to the organizations, Barry Hay will bring the greatest hits of Golden Earring during the NOTP shows; this probably means a medley of all the hits during a time frame of about 12 to 15 minutes. Do you regret this? Well no, because you can watch Golden Earring live. Il Novecento and Fine Fleur already showed to be able to handle rock music in the past and to give a new dimension to that music with the choir and the symphonic orchestra.
Barry’s voice is still ok; it still beholds the power behind the songs of Golden Earring. Barry answers to the big demand of the NOTP audience and promises music with a lot of quality. So, a good choice. Rockers and fans: be there!
Links
Website Golden Earring
Earring on line
Golden Earring fan club
Golden Earring Museum
More info on Radar Love
More info on When the Lady smiles