Pop vocalist and actor Bill Hayes entered the world on June 5, 1925, in Harvey, Illinois. After completing high school he enrolled at DePauw University, where he earned degrees in both music and English upon graduation in 1947; that same summer he launched his professional singing career. National prominence arrived through his regular appearances as a vocalist on comedian Sid Caesar’s long-running television program Your Show of Shows during the 1950s. He further built his reputation with stage work, taking a leading part in the 1953 Broadway mounting of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet.
In 1955 Hayes cut a rendition of “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” whose music was supplied by George Bruns and whose lyrics were written by Thomas W. Blackburn for the Disney miniseries Davey Crockett that had premiered on ABC the previous year and featured the song’s initial performance by the Wellingtons. Three competing versions reached the pop charts that year: Hayes’s single ascended to number one in March, while Tennessee Ernie Ford’s placement peaked at number five and Fess Parker’s (the actor who portrayed Davy Crockett in the miniseries) at number six. Two months afterward bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman added a fourth chart entry that climbed to number ten. Collectively the various recordings moved more than ten million copies.
Additional 1950s radio singles such as “The Berry Tree” and Hayes’s interpretations of “High Noon” and “Wringle, Wrangle” met with modest success, though only the last title entered the Top 40, attaining number 33 in 1957. Hayes gradually shifted emphasis toward acting and secured a long-term role as Doug Williams, a former convict who became a lounge singer, on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives beginning in 1970. He remained in the part until 2004, when the character was written out via an on-screen death only to reappear alive on a tropical island. Hayes marked his 2,000th episode appearance on the series in January 2010. He died on January 12, 2024, at the age of 98.
