Biography

Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's Thriller, Rock with You, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Workin’ Day and Night and the flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit "Longer". Additionally, he has performed with artists such as George Benson, Nik Kershaw, Al Jarreau, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Earth, Wind & Fire, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, George Duke, Lionel Richie, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Patti Austin, among many others.He is known as the Seawind trumpeter and arranger who plays with Gary Grant, Larry Williams and Bill Reichenbach Jr. Jerry Hey was born in 1950 in Dixon, Illinois to a family of musicians. His mother was a pianist and his father was a trombonist. Jerry also had two older brothers who played the trombone and tuba. After completing high school, Jerry attended the National Music Camp for two summers. While in college, Hey studied under Bill Adam at Indiana University.Jerry then relocated to Hawaii to become a member of Seawind band.In 1976, Jerry Hey moved to Los Angeles with the Seawind and recorded two albums for CTI Records under the direction of Harvey Mason.When Jerry Hey and Seawind moved to Los Angeles, Gary Grant had already been in the city for a year and was a well-known session player. He invited Jerry to join him on recording sessions, which helped to launch Jerry's career as a studio musician.Soon after arriving in LA, Quincy Jones got in touch with Jerry to ask him to play and arrange for an album titled “I Heard That!!”. Following that session, Jerry and his associates were invited to perform on every one of Quincy's recordings. Hey later worked as a musician and arranger with David Foster.Jerry is the uncle of American keyboardist, songwriter, producer, arranger and musical director Henry Hey.

He composed and arranged the song "Jedi Rocks" for the 1997 Special Edition re-release of Return of the Jedi. He co-produced four songs on Lisa Stansfield's 2014 album, Seven.

Hey has received 6 Grammy Awards and 11 nominations.