I was brought up west southwest coast of Scotland and my mother and father had a music shop, and so I was surrounded by pianos and drums and guitars, and music, of course.

I'd play to a hundred people or sometimes less. Hay joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985 for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" a charity project for research on Little Penguins which peaked at No. It’s been word-of-mouth.

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Hay's music has been frequently used by actor and director Zach Braff in his work subsequently leading to a career rebirth in the mid-2000s. Regarding his solo career Hay stated in 2011: "I feel like it’s been building for the last fifteen or so years that I’ve been touring. People see the show like it and tell their friends.