Day of future present: Justin Hayward, Christopher Cross set for Hanover Theatre

Justin Hayward and Christopher Cross knew each other before they started showing up in shows together in June as a double bill that will include a 7 p.m. June 18 engagement at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts.

'I'm looking forward to it," said Hayward, 76, during a recent telephone interview before the shows got underway. Hayward is also touring separately, and was speaking on the phone from a hotel in Toronto ahead of his show May 28 at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall that would see three standing ovations at the end.

Hayward is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the British progressive rock band the Moody Blues through most of its existence, and wrote such classics as "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" from the breakthrough 1967 album "Days of Future Passed." The "Moodies" were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. He was also recognized by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 when he received an OBE in the Queen's Jubilee Honours List.

Christopher Cross is an instantly recognizable voice of the early 1980s who won five Grammy Awards and an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for best song in short succession for hits such as "Sailing," Ride Like the Wind," and "Arthur's Theme" from the movie "Arthur."

The set up for their shows is "we each do our set," Hayward said.

"I hope that Chris' fans will stick around for me and my fans stick around for Chris," Hayward said. "He (Cross) has such lovely songs, I'm sure it will be a nice occasion."

'I hope there's something for everyone'

Fans of the Moodies, and so in this instance by likely extension Hayward, have shown for their part that they are extremely supportive.

That was evident during the most recent visit by the Moody Blues to Worcester in 2015 when the band played at The Hanover Theatre.

A reviewer wrote, citing lyrics to the song "The Voice" — 'Oh won’t you tell me again/Can you feel it/Won’t you tell me again/Tonight' — that as Justin Hayward sang the words to what was just the second song of the evening "the basically full house of 2,300 people was already feeling it, swaying in their seats or standing up and clapping along. The song was moving along in a groove of instant appeal and nostalgia, a combination that shone throughout the evening to make the Moodies’ first concert of their current 'Timeless Flight' United States tour both a success and a memorable experience."

"There are things that mean something to people who like this music," Hayward said of the fan base. "I think every musician is aware of that." Such support certainly benefitted the Moodies "when we were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," he said. Reportedly, not all critics were fans of the Moody Blues/progressive rock, but the band's fans gave the nomination an important push. "It was a steamroller, there was no doubt about that."

Hayward has been touring with his own touring band in recent times, including multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Julie Ragins, guitarist Mike Dawes and flutist Karmen Gould.

"I hope there's something for everyone" he said of the songs he'll play June 18 at The Hanover Theatre that will cover his entire career.

In addition to his hits with the Moodies, he's has solo successes such as "Forever Autumn" from "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds," and his solo album "Spirits of the Western Sky."

"The problem is what to leave out ... There are a few songs I couldn't get off the stage without playing." He acknowledged that two of those are "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon."

'That's been my life since I was 17'

Hayward came across as pleasant, polite, patient and helpful, as there were occasional telephone difficulties, most likely from the reporter's end of things.

He sounded right at home, which to some extent he was.

"I live mostly in hotel rooms," he said. "That's been my life since I was 17."

He was born in Swindon in Southwest England, once known as a great railway town. The son of teachers, he was out forming and performing in different bands from an early age.

The Moody Blues were not a certain proposition for success when Hayward joined the group in 1966.

Formed in Birmingham in the England Midlands in 1964, the Moodies had already had a big hit with a cover of the Bessie Banks classic song "Go Now." But there had also already been personnel changes and in 1966 Hayward and bassist and vocalist John Lodge joined founding members Graeme Edge, drums, Ray Thomas, flute, and Mike Pinder, keyboards.

"Days of Future Passed," which was soon to follow, has been hailed as securing the Moodies their place in prog history, but it may not have felt quite so epoch making to the participants at the time.

"We didn't have any influence," Hayward said of the album. It was essentially "a debt we paid to Decca (Records)."

The album was originally intended to be a demo record to convince people to buy stereo, Hayward said. Decca had wanted a pop version of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Instead, the Moodies turned in an orchestrated album with Pinder making extensive use of the orchestral sounding Mellotron instrument and producers recording the actual London Festival Orchestra. The album had original Moodies song material that was presented as covering a day ("The Day Begins," "Tuesday Afternoon," "Nights in White Satin").

However, "No one can take credit for 'Days of Future Passed.' It all came together at that moment," Hayward said.

"Hugh Mendl (executive producer) and Peter Knight (conducting arrangements with the London Festival Orchestra) saw that connection, that thread that went through the album. I don't think anyone of us thought anyone would ever hear it."

The album was released by Deram Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records, at a budget price to introduce people to stereo, but then became regularly priced as it started to sell, Hayward said,.

Did the Moodies think they had created a prog rock album?

"Absolutely not. I don't think prog rock had been invented," Hayward said.

"I was surprised that it took off."

He credits, in part, good songs and FM radio.

But the Moodies evidently realized they were on to something, prog rock or not. Four successful albums followed - "In Search of the Lost Chord" (1968); "On the Threshold of a Dream" (1969); "To Our Children’s Children’s Children" (1969); and "A Question of Balance" (1970), with that Mellotron sound and moody lyrics.

The songs are often about searching. In "Tuesday Afternoon" Hayward sings, "Something calls to me/The trees are drawing me near/I've got to find out why/Those gentle voices I hear/Explain it all with a sigh/I'm looking at myself reflections of my mind/It's just the kind of day to leave myself behind ..."

Did he ever find the answers?

"Some of us were really on a search for enlightenment. Spiritual enlightenment in a way. That's what you do at that age. I was 19 when I came to the Moodies," Hayward said. On the other hand, "We were just trying to get the money to pay for the petrol," he said.

But as for finding answers, "I think so," he said. "It's not something I can discuss with the rest of the boys because they're not here. But yes, I think so. Some of us did. We certainly had a good time exploring, that's for sure," he said.

'I love being with people who really love this'

When The Moody Blues came to The Hanover Theatre in 2015, the group had three core Moodies on stage — Hayward, Lodge and Edge, with other musicians rounding out the sounds.

Pinder had left the group in 1978, while Thomas wasn't touring any more. Thomas died in 2018, and Edge died in 2021.

Concerning whether there could be a Moodies reunion with himself and Lodge, Hayward said, "I think once Graeme (Edge) was gone I couldn't really see it as the Moody Blues."

But he's still playing Moody Blues and solo songs and enjoying himself as he does so.

"I love being with people who really love this," Hayward said.

"Ordinary life isn't like that. In this environment, to be with my crew — Julie Ragins, Karmen Gould, Mike Dawes ... that's what I want to do," he said.

"I'm very lucky. I'm offered a lot of things and quite often I say yes. I'm doing all right. I'm quite happy with the way things are now."

Christopher Cross and Justin Hayward

When: 7 p.m. June 18

Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester

How much:  $49, $59, $79 and $99 depending on seat location. Limited VIP packages available for $199. 877-571-7469; www.thehanovertheatre.org.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Future present for Justin Hayward, Christopher Cross at The Hanover