Throughout her career, singer-songwriter and actress Hayley Sales has ridden out the highs and lows as if they were just another wave in the Pacific Ocean.
“In my opinion, the people who find success are the people who are able to process all the negative feedback and kind of press the reset button,” Sales told the News Bulletin. “There are different phases in my life where I get negative feedback and then it is all great for a year. It is just this cycle that you have to rise above.”
On Saturday (Sept. 20) the award-winning singer will be performing at the Nanaimo Harvest Festival, which takes place in the Old City Quarter.
“I always love having the opportunity to come back to the Island to play shows,” Sales said.
She was born in Washington, D.C., but spent the majority of her early life in Portland, where she attended The Northwest Academy and had big dreams.
What she didn’t dream of was her parents moving from the Beaver State to a farm near Qualicum Beach.
“I was uncontrollably in tears,” Sales recalled about the day she found out she was moving to Canada.
After a year on the Island, Sales moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. However, things didn’t work out the way she hoped.
“I think I was too young to be completely on my own in that city ... You’re so impressionable and you’re on your own,” Sales recalled. “At one point I was told I needed to lose weight so I stopped eating.”
As a result, Sales lost her voice and was forced to return to Vancouver Island to recover.
“That was an interesting experience because that has always been my identity and then to have it gone for a good solid year was a growing experience,” Sales said.
Fortunately for Sales, the tides began to take a turn in the right direction.
“I was lucky it all healed and I got signed to Universal within the next year,” Sales said.
She has released two albums, Sunseed and When the Bird Became a Book, under Universal Records and is putting the finishing touches on her newest album, which will be released later this year. The record, which isn’t titled yet, features Carl Marsh and Qualicum’s Phil Dwyer.
“I wanted to find a way to draw my worlds together,” Sales said about the upcoming record. “It’s more cinematic. There is a bit more influence from Judy Garland and the singers in that era, the 1930s, that I kind of had steered away from in the first two records. I am embracing that a bit more.”
Today, Sales has won numerous awards as a musician and plays Shelly on the television show Cedar Cove.
When she looks back at her career, she credits her relocation to Vancouver Island for a large part of her success.
“In many ways I don’t think I would be where I am if I hadn’t been nudged to move here with my family,” she said.
For more information on the Nanaimo Harvest Festival, visit www.dnbia.ca. For more information on Hayley Sales please visit www.hayleysales.com or www.facebook.com/hayleysalesofficial. You can also follow her on Twitter at @HayleySales.
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