The youngest of five girls, Hayley Oliver was born in South London. Her musical influences, growing up, were mainly Country artists, listening to Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Tammy Wynette and later Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Lorrie Morgan and other traditional Country music that her parents played. At the age of five, she was asked to sing solo in her school nativity play and went on to represent her school, Linden Lodge, in music festivals throughout the UK. At the age of 11, she was nominated to sing solo at the Royal Albert Hall (at that time, the youngest ever solo performer there) and this led to her making her first single, Saint Of The Orphans, in 1987; it was classed as folk and led to subsequent television appearances on Saturday morning breakfast shows The Wide Awake Club and Going Live and the BBC evening news programme London Plus. Two further early singles followed Andromeda Galaxy which was also classed as folk and Prayer For The World which was classical. With perfect pitch and vocal clarity and an ability to deliver a song in a way that touches the heart of the listener, Hayley’s success at such an early age came as no surprise and she soon knew she wanted a career in music but she first chose to finish her formal education. After leaving Linden Lodge School, she went to the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, taking diplomas in business administration and then went on to study at the University of Glamorgan, gaining a BA Honours degree in Business & Marketing.
In 2008 she met up with guitarist Lee Ellis who joined her in forming the six-piece Hayley Oliver Band in February 2009 to run alongside her solo career. The band comprised Hayley Oliver (lead vocals), Lee Ellis (lead guitar and vocals), Nigel Nesbitt (bass and vocals), Wayne Lee (keyboards and vocals), Scott Gladman (rhythm guitar) and Julian McLaren (drums). Wayne Lee is Albert Lee’s son.
During 2008 and 2009 she collaborated with Nashville producers, resulting in her second solo album, I Can Still Dream, released in October 2009, with original material provided by various writers from across the world. In February 2010, Another Lonely Night, a single from the album topped the Country Hotdisc Charts which featured on Country Music People and Up Country magazines. It stayed at the top of the British & Irish Independent Chart for six weeks and was also No 1 on the main Top 40 Chart. On 7th February 2010, Hayley was made the Sunday Spotlight artist on BBC Radio 2 and when her song Be Love was featured in Maverick magazine it was described as ‘An authentic Country sound from a fresh and breezy British artist’. During those years Hayley performed regularly with various artists and bands.
In 2010 The Hayley Oliver Band released a cover songs project with the release of the live album, Naturally which was recorded in two days. Hayley needed to showcase her talents on the live circuit and with two albums recorded in quick succession she needed a way to get the music across to her wide and varied audience. This album produced two chart-topping positions on the Country Hotdisc Charts with the release of the singles, Tell Me Why, written by Karla Bonoff, which was a hit for Wynonna Judd, and I’m A Little Bluer Than That, written by Irene Kelley and Mark Irwin which was recorded by Kelley on her album, Simple Path and also by Alan Jackson on his album, Drive. With this third chart No 1 from three releases, the band becomes the most successful British act ever to appear on Hotdisc. No other UK act has managed three number ones.
Hayley and the band were invited to go to Nashville in November 2010, fulfilling one of her long held dreams, and there, they represented the UK, taking part in a WSM Radio event, which put on an international show of six Country acts at the Loveless Café. The show was broadcast live in HD via the internet. They returned to Nashville again in 2011 and played at the Nashville Palace. Several presenters on CMR Nashville praised Hayley and the band. Stuart Cameron said ‘Really sprung onto the scene the last two years. It is predicted by many that Hayley and her talented musicians will be flying the British flag for Country music for many years to come and there are not many who would argue with that’. Jackie Storrar, recording artist and presenter of CMR’s The Country Cafe said ‘A big congratulation to Hayley and her band, what a year 2010 is turning out to be’.
In late 2012, the band released Arbinger Grove, with guest appearances by Albert Lee, Gerry Hogan and John Permenter. The album was critically acclaimed as being of international standard.
The band won two BCMA awards in 2010; the Horizon award for best British Newcomer and Most Successful Single for I’m A Little Bluer Than That. The following year the band lost out to Gary Perkins & The Breeze for Band of the Year , the band were however nominated again in 2012 and in three consecutive years, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Hayley was nominated as female vocalist of the year. In 2013 they picked up another Most Successful Single award, this time for Hand That Rocked The Cradle. By 2014 conflicting commitments led to Hayley and the band members’ decision to disband. After their successful last show at the 2014 Truckstop Festival in Denmark, Hayley decided to focus on a slightly different path involving guitarist, Harley Dave, with a more ‘rootsy’ Americana approach.
The unplugged show proved a success, both in small venues and larger theatres. In 2015 Hayley unveiled her new five-piece band line-up on the main stage at the Americana International Festival, gaining rave reviews and started taking select bookings while continuing to develop the acoustic show. The new band were Hayley Oliver (lead vocals and rhythm acoustic guitar), Harley Dave (electric lead and acoustic guitars), Jim Martin (pedal steel and electric guitar), Chris Dunn (bass) and Jon Keys (drums)
In 2016, after a short spell in Texas with Harley Dave playing acoustic gigs in Austin and being welcomed into the Luckenbach ‘Picker’s Circle’, Hayley returned to the Truckstop Festival, Denmark, with the new band. In 2017, Hayley and Harley guested with The Fabulous Texadillos at Pullman City Harz, Germany and hope to take the band back to Germany, one day.
2018 and early 2019 saw Hayley and the band playing Warners, Pontins and some independent Country music events but also still playing some clubs, either solo or with the band. Then came covid and lockdown which put a halt to all live music.
During lockdown Hayley decided to dust off her guitar and get back into playing it, which resulted in her fronting the band with her guitar when the restrictions were relaxed and live gigs started up again. In July, 2021, the band performed at Studley Castle (Warners). She is also experimenting with duo appearances in clubs with Harley Dave. The first of these was at the Harlow CMC in Essex where Hayley had been booked as a solo but on the night the first set was solo then Harley joined her on stage playing lead guitar while Hayley played rhythm.
Research by Nick Catford.