Justin Hayford

Justin Hayford was born in Rochester, New York, on March 11, 1970.

The roots of Justin's musical talent are to be sought in his family: many of his family members are musicians. His mother, Charlotte Cain, and her two sisters formed a close-harmony singing group called The Cain Sisters, who sang on the Chicago radio station WLS in their own show, and later performed on NBC Radio. Charlotte's father, Noble Cain, was the choral director at Northwestern University, as well as the musical director at NBC Radio and a well known composer of a cappella music. Justin's father, John Hayford, plays the piano, clarinet and trombone, although this is not his main occupation.

Justin grew up in an environment where music was greatly appreciated, which formed his own appreciation of music. He, however, felt insecure about his musical skills. He was the only one in his family who did not get formal musical training. He taught himself to play the piano using the piano at his home, but he disliked singing. Trying to avoid all possibilities for a musical career, he started pursuing a degree in astrophysics at Northwestern University. He later switched to mathematical studies and subsequently moved on to a department called Interpretation which deals with the analysis and performance of literature. Eventually, he earned a master's degree in Interpretation.

That field of study drew him to the theater. Justin and his acquaintance Audrey Heller formed a group called Industrial Theater, and the two started creating original evening-length image-based performance pieces which examined contemporary social anxieties.

At that time Justin took an interest in the problems of people suffering from AIDS. He began volunteering at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago (later renamed to Legal Council for Health Justice) which protects the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS and provides free legal services to them. Justin spent a year there as a volunteer and was then promoted to the position of case manager.[3] He worked at the Legal Council through at least 2017, advocating for people who have been discriminated against, fighting to secure their public benefits, helping them prepare the estate planning documents, struggling to secure green cards or asylum for recent legal immigrants.

Shortly after taking the job with the Legal Council Justin recommenced his musical pursuits. He started playing an electric piano as a means of recreation and relaxation. By continuous practice Justin gradually discovered the basics of music theory by himself, becoming more and more skillful by learning from his mistakes.

After learning about jazz chords for several years, Justin tentatively began to sing while he played. Initially, those attempts produced unsatisfactory results, but Justin persisted and achieved improvement. Justin got familiar with and started to admire the music of Matt Dennis, an American singer and pianist, whose voice was not very powerful but he used it to great effect. Justin found a resemblance between his voice and Dennis’ voice, so he saw in Dennis a model from which he could learn.

From that moment on Justin began to search out little known songs from the 1930s and 1940s and performed them before his friends. His first cabaret performance happened in Chicago at his birthday party. He performed 16 songs for an audience of about 30 people. Later Justin started performing in a piano bar on a regular basis which helped him develop his distinctive style. After that Justin began creating full-length cabaret shows and presenting them at Davenport's Piano Bar & Cabaret in Chicago.

• "No-Hit Wonder", Chicago Social Magazine, November 2001
• "Singer Doesn't Go By Numbers", Chicago Sun-Times, May 26, 2002
• "Chi Lives: Justin Hayford's Unclaimed Melodies", Chicago Reader, March 2, 2001
• "Justin Hayford's Cabaret Sound Comes Naturally", Chicago Tribune, February 6, 2004
• "Romantic Sensation", South Bend Tribune, November 4, 2005

• Justin Hayford at LML Music
• Justin's Last.fm page with free songs to listen and download
• Review of the album Look Who's Been Dreaming (please scroll to the bottom of the page)
• Review of the album It All Belongs To You