Paul Reginald Nelson (born 21 May 1955), known by the stage name Paul Hyde, is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer-songwriter. He co-founded the rock band

Payola$ Payolas (stylized as Payola$) was a Canadian rock band that was most prominent in the 1980s. Evolving from a new wave sound toward mainstream pop rock, they were best known for the single "Eyes of a Stranger", from their 1982 album '' No Stran ...

with

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, ...

, serving as the band's main

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. He later performed and recorded with Rock under the band name

Rock and Hyde Payolas (stylized as Payola$) was a Canadian rock band that was most prominent in the 1980s. Evolving from a new wave sound toward mainstream pop rock, they were best known for the single "Eyes of a Stranger", from their 1982 album '' No Stran ...

and has released six solo albums over his musical career.

Early life

Born in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, England, Hyde emigrated to Canada at 15 years of age, settling in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. Hyde met

while the pair were attending Belmont High School in Langford, a Victoria suburb. Rock, who moved to Victoria from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

at age 12, described his first encounter with Hyde to the ''

Times Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily C ...

'' in 2007: "He had his hair all cut off, and later I found out it was because he wanted to look like a

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

when he immigrated to Canada so he wouldn't get beat up. Being such a fan of English culture and bands, I saw this kid standing there in a long trenchcoat and shaved head and I went, 'That's a guy I wanna know.'" The two connected on their love of

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

and were both interested in the burgeoning Vancouver

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

scene. Hyde traveled multiple times between England and Canada in his youth, bringing Rock with him on one occasion. In the mid-1970s, Hyde and Rock formed the ''Paul Kane Blues Band'' and toured

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...

Career

Payolas, Tears are Not Enough, Rock and Hyde (1978–1988)

In the late 1970s, Hyde followed Rock to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

after Rock landed a job as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

recording engineer at

Little Mountain Sound Studios Little Mountain Sound Studios is a music recording facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, it was the most successful recording studio in Western Canada and the home for many years to producers Bruce Fa ...

and was working with many bands from Vancouver's

scene. In 1978 the two men formed the punk-influenced rock band

Payolas Payolas (stylized as Payola$) was a Canadian rock band that was most prominent in the 1980s. Evolving from a new wave sound toward mainstream pop rock, they were best known for the single "Eyes of a Stranger", from their 1982 album '' No Stran ...

and released their first single "China Boys" on their own Slophouse label the following year. The song, whose lyrics reference the

westernization Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...

of China, attracted the attention of

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. Their four track EP '' Introducing Payola$'' was released by A&M in 1980. The band recorded 1981's '' In a Place Like This'', first at Little Mountain Sound Studios, then completed at the famed

Le Studio Le Studio (later renamed Studio Morin Heights) was a residential recording studio in the Laurentian Mountains near the town of Morin-Heights, Quebec, Canada built in 1972 by recording engineer and producer André Perry, Nick Blagona and Ya ...

Morin-Heights Morin-Heights is a town in the Laurentian Mountains region of Quebec, Canada. It is west of Saint-Sauveur and north of Lachute; municipally, it is within the Regional County Municipality of Les Pays-d'en-Haut. It is primarily a tourist town, ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The album's sound contained both

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

influences. Produced by Rock, ''In a Place Like This'' was a critical success, but didn't do well commercially. The band attracted the attention of famed British songwriter and producer

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...

, who produced Payolas' 1982 album '' No Stranger to Danger''. Incorporating elements of reggae, pop, punk, and new wave, ''No Stranger to Danger'' included the hit single (No. 4) in "Eyes of a Stranger", which won the Juno Award for best single. Junos were also given to Rock and Hyde for their songwriting, Rock was awarded Recording Engineer of the Year, and the band as a whole won the Most Promising Group. In 1985, Hyde was a co-writer of the No. 1 Canadian charity single "

Tears Are Not Enough "Tears Are Not Enough" is a 1985 charity single recorded by a supergroup of Canadian artists, under the name Northern Lights, to raise funds for relief of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was one of a number of such supergroup singles reco ...

" by Northern Lights. He was one of over 40 vocalists featured on the song. Hyde and Rock came up with the song's title and contributed to the French lyrics along with Rachel Paiement, receiving co-writer credits on the song along with

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

, Paiement and

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

. Hyde and Rock, whose band was now known as Paul Hyde and the Payolas, released the David Foster produced '' Here's the World for Ya'' in 1985. Hyde, Rock, and Miriam Nelson (who is also Hyde's wife) were recognised at the 1987 '' Performing Rights Organization of Canada Limited'' (PROCAN) awards presentation for their writing contributions to the album. Despite the critical acclaim, disappointing sales resulted in them dropped by A&M. In 1987 the pair signed with

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

and put out one album, ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. The novel tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the Mexican city of Quauhnahuac, on the Day of the Dead in Novemb ...

'', in 1987, this time credited as

. In 1985, producer and songwriter

helped assemble the supergroup Northern Lights to record the song "

". Hyde was one of over 40 vocalists featured on the song and Rock served as one of the

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the ...

. Rock and Hyde came up with the song's title and contributed to the French lyrics along with Rachel Paiement, receiving co-writer credits on the song along with

, Foster, Paiement and

Solo work (1989–2002)

In 1988, Hyde,

Murray McLauchlan Murray Edward McLauchlan, (born 30 June 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player. He is best known for his Canadian hits "Farmer's Song," "Whispering Rain," and "Down by the Henry Moore". Early life Mc ...

and

Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music H ...

collaborated on the single "Let The Good Guys Win". The song was written by McLauchlan as a Christmas gift to the people of Capitol Records. That same year Hyde traveled to Los Angeles to record his debut solo album, ''Turtle Island'', with producer

Davitt Sigerson Davitt Sigerson (born 1957) is an American novelist whose first career was in the music business. Sigerson was a record producer, singer, songwriter, record company executive, and journalist. Early life, education, and career Davitt Sigerson was ...

. The album single "America is Sexy" the song was ranked as No. 23 of the top 25 Cancon songs of the year in 1988 and reached No. 28 on the

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

100 Singles chart of 23–28 October. The album also appeared on the RPM Top 100 Albums chart in 1989. Hyde released his next album '' Love and the Great Depression'' on the independent Canadian record label, Broken Records, in 1996. Hyde followed this album with '' Living off the Radar'', which was released in 2000 by

Music Canada. Bob Rock produced the album and co-wrote some of the songs. In 2002 Hyde released '' The Big Book of Sad Songs, Volume 1'' on the independent label, Bongo Beat.

Payolas reunion (2003–2008)

Rock and Hyde played live in Vancouver in 2003, reformed as The Payolas. An EP called "Missing Links" was released for a charitable foundation, consisting of previously-unreleased Payolas songs and demos, a couple of which had surfaced earlier, in slightly different productions, on Hyde's solo album ''Living off the Radar''. In 2006 they reunited once more and on July 17, 2007, the Payola$ released a seven-song EP, ''

Langford (Part One) ''Langford Part One'' is the seven-song CD EP released by the Payolas in 2007. The album cover features a picture of the Belmont Secondary School which is the Langford high school that Bob Rock and Paul Hyde attended together. The band announc ...

''. It was announced that there would be a full length follow-up to the ''Langford (Part One)'' EP, possibly incorporating some of the EP's tracks, however this release never materialized. The band stopped performing live as of 2008, and the official Payolas website shut down in 2009. In a 2018 interview with the Canadian music magazine, '' Music Express'', Hyde indicated that a Payolas reunion was not imminent, not for lack of interest by his band mate Rock, but due in part to Hyde's fear of live performances.

Further solo work and work as a visual artist (2009–present)

In 2009 Paul Hyde resumed his solo career, releasing his fifth studio album ''

Peace Sign A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph by ...

'', followed nine years later with the 2018 release '' No Gods, Just Men''. In a 2020 interview with the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', Hyde said that he hadn't performed live music in five years and had changed his creative focus towards visual art. Hyde exhibited 26 of his

collages Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an Assemblage (art), assemblage of different forms, thus creat ...

at Chernoff Fine Art in Vancouver in 2020.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Turtle Island'' (1989) * ''Love and the Great Depression'' (1996) * ''Living off the Radar'' (2000) * ''The Big Book of Sad Songs, Volume 1'' (2002) * ''Peace Sign'' (2009) * ''No Gods, Just Men'' (2018)

Personal life

Paul has three children with ex-wife Myriam Nelson. He has a son and twin daughters.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyde, Paul Canadian male singers Canadian rock singers Canadian singer-songwriters Canadian record producers Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year winners British emigrants to Canada Canadian film score composers Male film score composers Canadian new wave musicians Living people 1955 births Canadian male singer-songwriters