Jonathan Hay (publicist)

Jonathan Hay (born December 16, 1975) is an American publicist and record producer. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, he is known for having publicized various works for music industry acts, such as Rihanna's 2005 debut single " Pon de Replay". Hay's collaborative album ''Follow the Leader (Reimagined As Jazz)'' (2019) ended Michael Bublé's 38 week reign atop ''Billboard''s Top Jazz Albums chart.

Publicist career

Starting out in the music business as a publicist, his first professional project was with Quo, a short lived hip-hip duo who were signed to Michael Jackson's MJJ Productions.

Hay's first success was achieved with Days of the New, the multi-platinum rock band who had four hit singles; most notably " Touch, Peel and Stand" that ''Billboard'' awarded "All-Time Greatest Mainstream Rock Song". In 2003, Travis Meeks, the lead singer of the group slammed the publicist for making unauthorized and premature disclosures, which the musician felt "actually damaged his chances" to advance his career with Guns N' Roses. After the purported conflict, Hay still worked with Meeks years later.

Hay worked as a publicist for Suge Knight's Death Row Records and announced its catalog was being sold to Hasbro. In 2012, Hay was part of a guardianship case involving teen actress Ariel Winter, a star on the TV series ''Modern Family'', and her mother, Chrisoula "Crystal" Workman. Workman sent a cease and desist to Hay in which he responded to ''TMZ'', "I feel terrible that a 14-year-old child has to suffer the consequences of her own mother's unfortunate decisions." Hay testified in court and signed a declaration for Ariel Winter in favor of her staying with her sister Shanelle Workman Gray.

Hay was in both '' Vogue'' and '' Vanity Fair'' for a philanthropy project in Florida. Hay spoke out in ''Rolling Stone'' on March 24, 2016 (Issue 1257) to publicly support Kesha during her sexual assault lawsuit against Dr. Luke. The magazine called Hay a "crisis management expert".
Hay told ''The Sun'' that his frequent collaborator Cyhi The Prynce wrote the lyrics to "Famous", the song that caused the public battle between Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. According to ''Hollywood Life'', a source close to West said, ''"Cyhi is a creative contributor on the song, in which he has been credited accordingly. However, the specific Taylor lyrics were written by Kanye himself."''

In April 2017, Hay had involvement with the Drake and Sophie Brussaux pregnancy scandal. He told ''People Magazine''
''"I've seen the text messages and they do exist"'' in reference to conversations purportedly from Drake, urging Brussaux to undergo an abortion. Hay has spoken out about this situation with ''Perez Hilton'', '' Glamour Magazine'' (in the Netherlands), ''Hollywood Life'' and ''Public Magazine'' (in France). In March 2025, Hay interviewed with Kat Tenbarge who previously worked for ''NBC News'', in an effort to clarify the circumstances surrounding Sophie and Drake, shifting the responsibility onto a different publicist.

Hay stated to ''The Huffington Post'' that Kathy Griffin was ''"flat-out gross"'' for her President Donald Trump photo scandal. Hay explained to ''HuffPost'', "From a PR perspective, she did do the right thing, by apologizing … but still that isn't enough. Not even close."
From the viewpoint of a crisis publicist, Hay was quoted in ''The New York Times'' about XXXTentacion's posthumous album release '' Skins''. During October 2022, Hay defended Ye, previously known as Kanye West in '' SOHH'', and said he's “profoundly misunderstood by the media,” and that Ye was “grossly misconstrued and taken way out of context.” In November 2023, ''The Hindustan Times'' reported that Jonathan Hay worked an event for the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.

In May 2025, ''Wired Magazine'' published an article in which Hay stated, "I blew the whistle as loud as I could" when he reported his former associate Mike Smith to the local authorities and the FBI in 2019. In September 2024, Smith was arrested and faces charges of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Hay also interviewed with ''BBC News'' about the federal music streaming fraud case.

Pon de Replay

Jonathan Hay met Kevin Skinner while working with Whitney Houston through her father's John Houston Entertainment company. In late 2004, Skinner introduced Hay to one of the co-producers of Rihanna's debut single " Pon de Replay." Hay was hired to promote the single and write her first press release that became a ''MTV News'' item on March 17, 2005. The mention on ''MTV News'' failed to drum up enough attention, so he started the "Jay-Z affair rumor." Hay tried to promote Rihanna's debut single by "fabricat ngstories of Rihanna and Jay-Z, leaking false rumors to tabloids, working with Internet message boards, etc." The story that Jay-Z was in a love triangle with Rihanna and Beyoncé gained widespread attention. Hay reiterated to ''Us Weekly'' that he was hired specifically for that song, not by Rihanna, but for the producer who co-wrote it.

In 2015, ''Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story'' by J. Randy Taraborrelli, an author on The New York Times Best Seller list was released, and it revealed the love scandal as a "desperate, publicity stunt" by Hay. Hay appeared on the CBS national television show ''Inside Edition'' and publicly apologized to Beyoncé for his story in the unauthorized biography ''Becoming Beyoncé''. Hay confessed that he started those rumors during a difficult time. "The PR stunt that I did was out of desperation to help break 'Pon de Replay,'" Hay said. "It 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." Neither Rihanna or Jay Z was aware of his machinations Hay told ''Newsday''. Hay said in an interview with ''HipHopDX'':

In July 2024, Trap Lore Ross released the documentary ''The Disturbing Death of Jay-Z's 'Mistress that was streamed by DJ Akademiks on his show. Hay was mentioned in the doc, so he spoke out on his Instagram and in an interview with ''AllHipHop'' through journalist Kyle Eustice:

Jonathan Hay did interviews on YouTube with Jaguar Wright and ''Tisa Tells'' addressing the marketing tactics behind "Pon de Replay".

Production career

Hip-hop releases

Jonathan Hay was executive producer and one of several musical producers on '' Sex, Money and Hip-Hop'' by Crooked I of Shady Records group Slaughterhouse. Hay executive produced an album featuring Kentucky artists and film star Johnny Depp. Depp also appeared on Hay's ''Fear of a Pink Planet'' by Pink Grenade released in July 2014. Hay was a music producer on the TV show "One Shot" with T.I., RZA, DJ Khaled, Tech N9ne, Sway Calloway and others. The show debuted on ''BET'' on August 23, 2016. ''WAVE (TV)'' reported that Hay abruptly left during filming of "One Shot" to focus on reuniting with his birth parents.

Hay released '' When Music Worlds Collide'' that features many popular rap artists from several different eras. It was released as a streaming-only album with a "Spotify vs. TIDAL" challenge, receiving national coverage on ''Fox News'', ''Billboard'', and ''Business Insider''. Hay produced " Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)", a song about suicide and alcohol abuse as a tribute to the late Keith Whitley released on what would have been his 60th birthday. The video for "Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)" premiered on ''MTV News''. Hay and Kxng Crooked produced "Too Ashamed", a sequel song to " Don't Close Your Eyes (Ashamed)" and explained to ''Billboard Magazine'' that "''working on 'Too Ashamed' was a very emotional recording experience for everyone involved."''

In June 2016, Hay produced a single for Snoop Dogg's record label Doggy Style Records. In August, Hay took a stand against Afrika Bambaataa with a remix featuring Ron "Bee Stinger" Savage. In the diss track, Jonathan replays the notes from Bambaataa's song "Planet Rock" while Savage speaks out about child molestation. In September, Hay released albums with Kxng Crooked and Cyhi The Prynce that didn't chart. In April 2017, Hay was a producer on a song about Kylie Jenner and 21 Savage that debuted on ''TMZ''. In November, Hay collaborated with both Conway The Machine and Riff Raff. In December, Hay produced singles with Kxng Crooked and Twista. In February 2018, Hay produced another song for Riff Raff. In May ''The Whoodlum Ball'' with DJ Whoo Kid was released and it hit multiple Billboard Charts.
On September 15, Hay peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Charts (and #5 Billboard Christian Streaming Chart) with the single "Beautiful Day" featuring Bubba Sparxxx. Hay was one of the producers of Juicy J's "Don't You Wanna" and "Message in the Bottle by Yung Bleu. In 2023, Hay collaborated with Solo Lucci from ''Love & Hip Hop''.

Jazz releases

Hay produced three consecutive No. 1 Billboard Jazz Albums. In January 2018, Hay's jazz debut release ''Jazz (Deluxe)'' landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. In July 2019 ''Jazz Part Two'' hit No.1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts. On July 26, Hay produced ''Follow the Leader'', a cover of Eric B. & Rakim's album in the style of jazz that also scored a No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts and was up for Grammy consideration. Peaking at No. 1, the album remained on the Billboard Charts for 11 weeks.

In an interview with ''Billboard Magazine'', Hay said:

In interviews with ''HipHopDX'' and ''Billboard Magazine'', Eric B. & Rakim talked about their jazz rendition of "Follow the Leader" and were quoted as saying:

Hay's "We Are the World (Contemporary Jazz Instrumental)" peaked at No. 18 on the United Kingdom Apple Music charts in March 2024.

House music releases

Jonathan Hay formed an electronic music label in March 2020 with distribution through Ingrooves (part of Virgin Music Group), the global independent music division of Universal Music Group.

Hay co-produced ''Nirvana Reimagined as House and Techno'' a charity album for LGBTQ+, mental health and suicide awareness. The album has collaborations with Fishbone bassist John Norwood Fisher, trumpeter Maurice "Mobetta" Brown, Pink Floyd saxophonist Scott Page, J Patt of the Knocks and drummer Andy Kravitz.

A writer for the ''Grammy's'' stated:

The Notorious B.I.G. estate / Sean 'Diddy' Combs Partnership

In 2020, Jonathan Hay entered into a collaboration contract with Christopher "C.J." Wallace, an heir to the estate of The Notorious B.I.G., which at the time had partnership with Sean 'Diddy' Combs.

Hay co-produced "Big Poppa (House Mix)" with Biggie's son 'C.J'., Diddy and others from the 'Frank White' team. ''Spin'' called the single "electrifying". Landing at #76 on the iTunes charts, the single could be seen as a disappointment in terms of commercial success.

''Rolling Stone'' published Hay's statement to ''Perez Hilton'' about the collaboration:

The partnership fell apart and Hay released a house music remake of the Biggie, Diddy and Bad Boy Records diss track "Hit 'Em Up" through Fat Beat Records featuring vocals from Daniella Carter. Suge Jacob Knight, son of Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight publicly supported the single.

Home Invasion

On April 20, 2017, Jonathan Hay was a victim in a home invasion where he was held at gunpoint as reported by the ''New York Daily News''. Hay was bound by duct tape during the attack in the ''Mallard Crossing at St. Matthews'' apartment complex.

''WHAS-TV'' and ''WAVE (TV)'' reported that St. Matthews Police arrested Michael Brooks and Louis Simmons Jr. and they were charged with first degree robbery, two counts of kidnapping, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, receiving stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts fraudulent use of a credit card. Quantez Gibson was the third person arrested. Gibson was sentenced to prison at the Kentucky State Reformatory for the two offenses of "criminal facilitation kidnapping and robbery."

''House Invasion'' is a true crime documentary based on the violent home invasion incident that occurred while Hay was assisting hip-hop star Drake with a crisis management issue. Netflix star Joe Exotic announced on X (previously named Twitter) that he was an executive producer of Hay's docuseries. The soundtrack album for ''House Invasion'' came out in February 2024 and peaked at No. 1 on the Apple Music/iTunes Albums Chart in South Africa.

Personal life

Hay is a Leesburg, Florida native. He went to Waggener High School but switched to a private school system to play basketball at Christian Academy of Louisville. His uncle is a founding elder of Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest churches in the United States. The ''Daily Commercial'' reported that he is currently estranged from his adoptive family. Utilizing 23andMe and DMC of Run-DMC, he successfully located his birth parents and had his first meeting with his biological mother in February 2017. His mom died unexpectedly in February 2021. He has two children. The media reported that Jonathan Hay and Adele were romantically involved after meeting in a recording studio in New York. Adele and Hay declined to comment on the dating speculation. According to ''Wired'', he has dated a stripper.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Jonathan
American adoptees
People from Leesburg, Florida
People from Louisville, Kentucky
1975 births
Living people
Record producers from Florida
Record producers from Kentucky
American publicists