Career
Hay is a TIDAL Rising Producer/Artist who has been described as a "legendary music producer" and "media mogul". He"s worked with clients from Sony Music to Wiz Khalifa and provides Puerto Rico crisis management. Hay is no stranger to controversy and openly supports marijuana.
Jonathan Hay is a Leesburg, Florida native.
He was adopted as a child. Hay was raised in Louisville, Kentucky.
Hay got his start in the music industry with Travis Meeks who was signed to Interscope Records. He was slammed by Meeks for issuing a press release announcing Meeks" audition for the new band Velvet Revolver formed by ex-Guns North" Roses members Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.
In 2005, Hay helped publicize "Pon de Replay" the debut single from Rihanna with controversial marketing tactics.
Hay worked as a publicist for Death Row Records and he"s worked with a wide range of music talent, including Whitney Houston and Ice Cube. In 2012, Hay was in the middle of a high-profile guardianship case involving teen actress Ariel Winter, a star on the television series Modern Family, and her mother, Chrisoula "Crystal" Workman. Crystal Workman sent a cease and desist to Hay.
Hay testified and signed a declaration for Ariel Winter in favor of her staying with Shanelle.
In 2013, Hay co-founded SMH Records a Charlotte, North Carolina based record label. Hay was a co-executive producer on "Sex, Money and Hip-Hop" by Kxng Crooked fka Crooked I of Slaughterhouse, a rap group that is signed to Eminem and Shady Records.
Hay executive produced an album featuring urban music by Kentucky artists and film star Johnny Depp. In 2014, it was announced that Hay was a music producer on the television Show One Shot with T.I., RZA, DJ Khaled, Technical N9ne, Sway Calloway and others
In February 2015, Hay had a six-figure departure deal from SMH Records.
In May, When Music Worlds Collide the debut studio album of Jonathan Hay and Mike Smith that features notable names in the hip-hop genre was released as a streaming only album and was featured on Fox News, Billboard, and Business Insider. On July 1, Billboard Magazine announced the release of Jonathan Hay"s produced "Don"t Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)" a song about suicide and alcohol abuse as a tribute to the late Keith Whitley on his 60th birthday. The music video premiered on Music Television News on August 27.
On October 23, Hay appeared on Inside Edition and publicly apologized to Beyonce for his story in the unauthorized biography Becoming Beyonce.
Hay is in the Beyonce book for his publicity stunt in 2005 for spreading rumors that Jay Z was dating Rihanna to boost the then 17-year-old"s "Pon De Replay". Hay, confessed that he started those rumors during a difficult time.
"The Puerto Rico stunt that I did was out of desperation to help break "Pon de Replay,"" Hay said. "lieutenant was reckless and I didn"t think it was going to work.
I was just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick."
In December, Jonathan Hay was in both Vogue and Vanity Fair in Italy for a recording project and reality show taping in Tampa, Florida.
Yahoo premiered Hay"s "Dude Looks Like A Superstar" with Skyzoo and famed hip-hop visual artist Cey Adams that puts a twist on the 1998 hit, "Ghetto Superstar" borrowing the hook"s melody from the Bee Gee"s "Islands in the Stream."
Jonathan Hay"s debut studio album The Urban Hitchcock LP was released in March 2016.