Gemma Hayes is a singer-songwriter born August 11, 1977 in Ballyporeen, Tipperary, Ireland. She signed to Source Records/Virgin in 2001 and issued the folksy 4.35am EP and the more band-orientated Work to a Calm EP before releasing her debut album, Night on my Side, in 2002. The album was subsequently nominated for that year's Mercury Music Prize, now called the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. After touring for Night on my Side Hayes took 2 years out from the music business; "All I do know is that I didn't want to listen to music at all.