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Justin Hayward (born David Justin Hayward, on 14 October , 1946 , in Swindon , England ) is a British musician, best known as the lead singer, lead Guitarist and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues . In 1965, Hayward worked with Marty Wilde and his wife, Joyce, in The Wilde Three. Striking out on his own a short while later, while still only 16, he signed a publishing contract with the Skiffle artist and Record Producer Lonnie Donegan (a move that Hayward later regretted as it meant that the rights to all his songs written before 1974 would always be owned by Donegan's Tyler Music). Hayward joined the Moody Blues in 1966, replacing the departing vocalist/guitarist, Denny Laine . Hayward's integration into the Moody Blues sparked greater commercial success and recognition for the band, transforming them into one of the biggest selling acts of all-time. Their album sales 1978 to date (2006) are in excess 60 million. Their 1967 to 1978 sales were contested in court with the record company claiming a sales figure of 30 million but lawyers and accountants employed by Decca at the time all testified that a more accurate but still conservative estimate for the bands' album sales between 1967 and 1978 would be between 80 and 100 million. All the paper trail to back-up these figures had since been "lost" by the record company and hence the band are credited with and were only paid royalties for 30 million sales. The 1967 album "Days of Future Passed", one of the first and most influential Symphonic Rock albums, spawned the Hayward-penned singles "Tuesday Afternoon" and the classic, "Nights in White Satin" that went on to sell in excess of 2 million copies. Hayward also wrote the band's UK number two hit, "Question" (kept off the number one spot by the 1970 England World Cup Squad with "Back Home"), as well as most of the group's other singles including "Driftwood", "The Voice", "Blue World", "Your Wildest Dreams" and "I Know You're Out There Somewhere". In 1974, the group decided to take what ended up being a 4 year break from performing and recording. Justin Hayward found international solo success in 1978, appearing on the '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds '' Concept Album , which yielded his hits "Forever Autumn" and "The Eve of the War". Hayward has also co-written songs with other members of the band during their career. With the band's bassist/vocalist, John Lodge , he had a hit in 1975 with "Blue Guitar." The same year, they released an album as a duo entitled Blue Jays . During the 1980s, Hayward composed and performed for film and television, including the theme song "It Won't Be Easy" for the 1987 BBC2 Science Fiction series '' Star Cops ''. In 1989, with producer-arranger Mike Batt, Hayward released '' Classic Blue '' - an album of standards written by other composers, set to orchestration and arranged by Batt. His most recent solo album, ''The View From The Hill'', was relased in 1996 and a live recording, ''Live in San Juan Capistrano'' followed in 1998. Hayward was awarded the first of numerous ASCAP awards for songwriting in 1974. In 1985, the Moody Blues picked up the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, followed in 1988, by Hayward receiving the Ivor Novello Award , among other honours, for ''Composer of the Year'' (for "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"). In 2004, Hayward was awarded the Gold Badge by the British Academy of Songwriters. In a recent BBC World Service interview, Hayward and John Lodge made it clear they have no plans to stop working and regarded it as "a privilege" to still be working in the music business. The Moody Blues will tour the UK again in late 2006. In April 2006, Hayward took part in the stage tour of '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds ''. Hayward has lived in Monte Carlo since 1996 and until recently with his wife of 35 years. They have one daughter, Doremi Celeste, born in 1972. DISCOGRAPHY
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