Bonnie Hayes
The musician, educator and songwriter comes full circle.
Music runs deep with Bonnie Hayes. Growing up, her home was filled with music, and two of her brothers also traveled down a musical path: Her brother Chris was lead guitarist for Huey Lewis & The News, and brother Kevin was the drummer for the Robert Cray Band. As a young musician, Bonnie's focus was jazz, and one of her first jobs was teaching music at the Blue Bear School of Music in the Bay area. From there, she sidetracked into punk and new wave and started The Punts in San Francisco, which later became Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo. If you've seen the 1983 movie "Valley Girl", you'll hear the song "Girls Like Me" at the start of the film, along with "Shelley's Boyfriend." However, songwriting and education became Bonnie's focus, both for herself and for other musicians. Many of her songs were picked-up and recorded by a variety of artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Cher, David Crosby, Natalie Cole, Adam Ant, Huey Lewis, Bette Midler and many others. In 2013, Hayes became chair of the songwriting department at Berklee in Boston. In 2022, she returned to the Bay Area to found a youth All Star Songwriting Program at Blue Bear School of Music. To talk more about her extensive career in the music business, Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Bonnie Hayes.