Artist Guide

Uvee Hayes

#113 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Play Something Pretty (w/ Otis Clay)"

Uvee Hayes

November 27, 2014: NEW ALBUM ALERT!

Sample/Buy Uvee Hayes' IN THE MOOD CD at Amazon.

See Daddy B. Nice's new CD Review.

Or scroll down this page to "Tidbits #2".

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To instantly link to all the awards, citations and other references to Uvee Hayes on the website, go to "Hayes, Uvee," in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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UVEE HAYES: In The Mood (Mission Park) Two Stars ** Dubious. Not much here.

(11-20-14) Notwithstanding her fine duets with the gritty Otis Clay, and unlike her raunchy St. Louis "soul sister" Barbara Carr (See SOUTHERN SOUL BLUES SISTERS), Uvee Hayes has always skated along the fringes of southern soul music, studiously avoiding anything carnal or lowbrow. Uvee picked one of Johnnie Taylor’s most delicate and sentimental tunes a few years ago for her hit single “Play Something Pretty.” Similarly, the title tune of her new set (“In The Mood”) is a smooth-as-silk cover of one of Tyrone Davis' most atypically jazzy outings. Although "A Woman's Gotta Do" (a remake of Uvee’s "A Man's Gotta Do") and "Handy Man" (a redo of her "Maintenance Man") qualify marginally as southern soul, the overwhelming bulk of her new album plies a meditative, jazzy style of singing more suited to the "Americana" or “Urban Smooth Jazz” market. There's nothing wrong with that; just be warned. This is music you'll hear in a cabaret with fine linen and waiters in starched uniforms, not in your favorite "hole in the wall” between Ms. Jody and Nellie "Tiger" Travis. DBN.

Sample/Buy Uvee Hayes' IN THE MOOD CD at CD Universe.

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--Daddy B. Nice

About Uvee Hayes

Uvee Hayes was born on a farm near Macon, Mississippi. As a member of her high school choir at Noxubee County High School, she was encouraged to enter a musical talent contest and won, setting her on a path in the music business.

Uvee married radio personality and producer Bernard Hayes and relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, where she became a psychological examiner in the St. Louis Public Schools. After recording a couple of obscure EP's in the 80's and 90's, Hayes released the aptly-titled Sweet And Gentle on her and her husband's imprint, Mission Park in 1998. There'll Come A Time (Mission Park) followed in 2002. The material built upon Hayes' fascination with the softer side of southern rhythm & blues and the influence of such songstresses as Lynn White and her single, "Take Your Time".

A few years followed without a record. Then, in 2009, Hayes' career was transformed by two collaborations: the first with Otis Clay (in association with the Chicago Blues Festival) and the second with Barbara Carr, the hard-hitting, often X-rated southern soul diva who also happens to call the St. Louis area home.

The 2009 duet with Clay on the Johnnie Taylor song, "Play Something Pretty," with Clay's grit contrasting perfectly with her romanticism, made Hayes a "household name" throughout the chitlin' circuit and became Uvee's top single to date. Play Something Pretty, the album, followed on CDS Records.

Meanwhile, Aviara Records released a compilation of back-catalog tracks of both Hayes and Barbara Carr, niftily alternating the two contrasting styles under the title: Barbara Carr & Uvee Hayes: Southern Soul Blues Sisters.

The album True Confessions, anchored by the single "Steal Away To The Hideaway," another soulful duet with Otis Clay, appeared on the Mission Park label in 2011, and as this overview was being written (November 2014), a new Uvee Hayes album, In The Mood, had just been released on the Mission Park label.