Hayden (musician)

Paul Hayden Desser (born February 12, 1971) who records as Hayden, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Thornhill, Ontario.

His early works are a largely eclectic mix of genres from grunge to alternative country, as demonstrated by his first full album, Everything I Long For, released in 1995. Since then his work has become progressively more refined.

History

His father is Sherwin Desser, a retired University of Toronto professor of parasitology and current visual artist.

Hayden received a B.A.A. in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1993. He turned to music after his song "Take" was selected for CFNY-FM's annual New Music Search competition in 1993. Hayden played guitar on the track and enlisted two friends (Lorraine Ursomarzo and Noah Mintz of hHead) to sing vocals. Hayden continued to recruit vocalists until 1995 when he began to showcase his grainy baritone. "Take" has never been officially released on any of Hayden's albums.