The Hayzel Project

Plenty of young performers will tell you that music is in their blood, but in the case of Chris Hayzel, it’s a statement of fact. The 20 year-old singer/songwriter shares his intrinsic flair for expression with his father Howard Hewett, former lead singer of the successful ‘80s group Shalamar, and his mother Nia Peeples, the singing/dancing star of the hit TV series Fame. Born in Los Angeles in 1989, Chris first picked up a guitar at age six, wrote his first song at age 10 (an inventive Green Day spoof that involved a certain red balloon) but really began serious work as a high school freshman, drawing on an eclectic mix of inspirational sources that has ranged from the Dave Matthews Band to Incubus to Jason Mraz. Having been raised in both the Los Angeles area and Vancouver, B.C. Chris is the product of a diverse musical landscape, the state of which is reflected in his musical repertoire, which, along with songwriting
and vocals, includes guitar, drums, congas, d’jembe, bongos and even the didgeridoo. After fronting a number of energetic high school bands Chris relocated to San Francisco to begin work on his ambitious solo project, later dubbed The Hayzel Project, a 12 song collection that he eventually self-produced and recorded in Las Vegas. Six of these tracks, including Equilibrium Part I, Instigate and Caroline, are available on Chris’ MySpace Page (www.myspace.com/secondstorywings).