Hayley Sales was born into an incredibly artistic family in the heart of Washington D.C. Sales would sit for hours on the mixer, letting the R&B beats and soul melodies rock her to sleep. When a childhood friend played her an old recording of Judy Garland, the flame burned even more fervently. It was love at first listen as an already alighted yearning to perform became her torch. If Sales wasn’t rehearsing for a theatrical production, she was sitting at the upright piano practicing Gershwin, singing backup vocals on tour with a Hindu Saint from India, interviewing the Dalai Lama, performing at the WWII Ace Pilots convention at the Pentagon, singing at protests, stealing the role of Juliet in a college production, lying about her age so she could perform because she was only twelve. By sixteen reluctantly followed her parents on yet another move. This time to an organic blueberry farm on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Before the age of seventeen, she’d produced her first demo album, ‘First Flight.’ Following its completion, Sales moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music and acting career, raising the money by shoveling sawdust onto 670 blueberry bushes. After a series of close encounters with success, Sales lost her voice from an eating disorder and had to move back to the blueberry farm. When her voice finally did return, though still quite damaged, she dove into the studio, completing a fifteen-song debut album, ‘Drifter,’ the record which ultimately led to her first major label deal. While on tour, Sales caught the attention of Universal Canada Music and signed with them, making two Top 40 LPs of similarly sun-drenched songs (‘Sunseed’, ‘When The Bird Became A Book’).
What is the most useless talent you have?
I can sound like Chewbacca when I yawn and I know Sanskrit.
If you were to write an autobiography, what would the title be?
Ricochet
What would be a good theme song for your life?
Moon River
If you could ask your future self-one question, what would it be?
What is the one moment ahead that makes it all worth it? Don’t tell me what happens. Future Self, Just tell me the way it feels…Paint the tip of the iceberg so that I have just enough to cling to when the tempest pulls me towards the waves.
Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
One of my look-a-like nieces
What first got you into music?
Before I could talk, I’d apparently raise a finger and if my older brothers and parents didn’t simultaneously break into song, I would throw a tantrum that could scare a tempest. I spent my days sitting on the mixing board in my dad’s recording studio or running around the yard escaping witches and swooning over princes, swept away by my romantic imagination. I was such an emotional little creature, I had to sing. I don’t know, it’s funny. I came in singing. Once I realized I could sing and get people to watch, my mind was blown. I’d make my family sit in the living room for hours while I belted out whatever my little heart wanted. Yes, I was a fiery handful and owe a lot to my family for being so patient and supportive.
My first official performance was a talent show when I was five. I remember it so clearly…the smell of the old curtains hanging in the theatre, the creaking chairs. I was clinging to the back of my mom’s shirt, hiding behind her. Then they called my name. It was my turn. I walked on stage, the heat of the lights hit my cheeks, and began to sing Dreams to Dream (Linda Ronstadt). I was home. The stage was home. I fell head over heels in love with performing…like I’d always been meant to be there. It’s funny to say, but I feel more comfortable on a stage than anywhere else in the world. Not because I’m escaping myself or my world, but more because singing and performing is the language that’s easiest for my heart to speak. From that moment on, I had to perform. That fire has kept me going when everything else fell apart. I just love it. That moment when you look out into the audience and see the stage lights reflecting off the eyes of the people there with me, that’s kept me going. I close my eyes and remember that feeling when everything else is falling apart. I’ll never give that up that love, no matter how hard things get. It’s worth it.
Around five I discovered and fell madly in love with Judy Garland as a performer. I knew that was the type of artist I wanted to be. She’s just all heart. There’s no façade. There’s no pretense. You can feel her enduring resilience, but also her brokenness and vulnerability. She had such a humor and sadness mixed together. It’s hard to explain but when she sings you can feel everything that’s burning inside of her. That was the type of performer I wanted to be. It’s still the type of performer I want to be…a big messy heart holding nothing back, singing because there’s something inside you that needs to get out. We’re all flawed. No one wants to hear perfect.
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Dead or alive? I guess I’ll stick with alive, but that’s a tough one! Jon Batiste, Elton John, Dolly Parton, John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lady Gaga, Trent Reznor, Chris Stapleton, Wynton Marsalis, Paul McCartney, John Williams, Justin Horowitz…the list goes on, but I’ll spare you.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
I’m one of the happiest people you’ll ever meet. I’m also one of the saddest. I’m a roller coaster. But as strange as it sounds, I love every facet of feeling. There’s a romance to the highs, and also to the lows. Having said that, this past December the sadness won. I was so broken hearted, depleted, hopeless and disillusioned, there wasn’t a single spark left. I’d lost a record to a label. I’d finished a record but couldn’t release it. There’d just been so many obstacles, I couldn’t push them aside to gain perspective anymore. I was so full of tears I could barely breath. For an entire day, I couldn’t pick my head up off the kitchen table. Perhaps it was the massive pause button COVID placed on my dreams or perhaps it was my stolen album haunting me and squeezing all the joy out of my truest love, Art…but the world just felt like a room I didn’t fit in. And I couldn’t seem to rally the romantic optimism into the trenches with me. I’d just reached rock bottom. I realized there were two options…Staying stuck in that story or choosing a new one. And I forced myself to choose a new one. I began to mediate, something I’m terrible at being an incredibly A type, hyper-anxious person with an incredible tendency towards a 48 – hour workday. I began to daydream and visualize the person I wanted to be. I spent hours in my mind sitting a grand piano on a stage, looking out into the gorgeous sea of eyes in the audience…and would burst into tears of absolute joy and gratitude. I felt such a sense of inner happiness, the state of dreaming became enough. At first, I thought the elation was simply a result of the daydreaming, that I was imagining my dreams finally becoming realities. And then I realized, it was deeper than that. The happiness was coming from within. That state of joy wasn’t outside of myself, it was inside. And the more grateful I felt about the smallest of things, the more elated and inspired I would feel in my core. I’m not entirely sure happiness is the right word…our society has such a strange concept about what happiness is…but a grace, a levity, a deep sense of gratitude, started to bubble inside my heart. My entire life changed in three months. I can’t even begin to describe how amazed I am.
Now for the cliff notes version: Fall madly in love with life. All of life. Fall madly in love with love. All types of love…And most importantly, never give up. Never let anyone tell you what you aren’t capable of. You’re capable of whatever you believe you’re capable of.
What would you be doing right now if it weren’t for your music career?
I’d be doing Music…I guess the furthest stretch of my imagination lands me on Broadway or West End. Maybe in some Shakespeare troop shooting words at the moon.
If we were to peek over your shoulder, what does your studio look like? What gear do you typically use?
I’ve recorded all my records at GlassWing Studios on my parents’ blueberry farm on Vancouver Island…I grew up in that studio. It’s more like home than any of the homes I’ve lived in. My dad/ co-producer/ Santa Claus look-a-like started the studio in Washington D.C., during the 70s. I grew up with beats and rhythms shaking the baseboards of our home. He recorded everyone from Miles Davis to…well…everyone. The studio is now on its third incarnation, hidden away from the city lights in a refurbished warehouse overlooking the blueberry fields.
The studio has the usual suspects. A Jupiter 8, a rack of analogue synths, walls coated with various guitars my dad and co-producer, Richard Sales, has collected over the years, tape recorders, old records, the mixer, a thicket of retro amps…the list goes on. As for gear, I have two true loves…my vocal microphones: one is a Nordic Audio NU47, a very rare, holy grail that shines blue when it’s turned on. The other is an RCA PB90 from the 1930s that I had Wes Dooley refurbish (AEA Microphones). I run both of those through a vintage summit mic-pre/ compressor and into ProTools. When recording piano and vocals, I use earbuds, close the curtains, and turn down the lights. I tend to record vocals and piano together, live, and entirely alone. I love to dive into the story of each song or else I get entirely too self-conscious and judgmental. If I focus on the story, and the feeling, it carries me.
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