Clarence Leonard Hayes (November 14, 1908 – March 13, 1972)^[1] was an American jazz vocalist and banjo player. His regular banjo was a six string one, which is tuned as a guitar.

Hayes was born in Caney, Kansas, on November 14, 1908.^[2] As a child, he learned the drums, then switched to guitar and banjo.^[2]

Hayes was part of a vaudeville troupe in the Midwest after 1923, and lived in San Francisco from 1927.^[2] He became more popular in the 1930s through radio and club performances.^[2] From 1938 to 1940 he played in a big band led by Lu Watters, after which he spent a decade with the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, playing rhythm banjo and, on occasion, drums.^[3] He spent almost all of the 1950s singing with Bob Scobey's band.^[3]

In the 1960s he led his own bands, which also recorded for various labels.^[3] He also played with the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Turk Murphy, and a group that evolved into the World's Greatest Jazz Band.^[3] As a vocalist, "Hayes was noted for his straightforward singing of ballads and his flamboyant delivery of livelier songs."^[2] He died in San Francisco on March 13, 1972.^[2]

• Clancy Hayes and His Washboard Five (Down Home, 1951)
• Cakewalk to Lindy Hop (Columbia, 1956)
• Clancy Hayes Sings (Verve, 1957)
• Clancy Hayes' Dixieland Band (Audio Fidelity, 1960)
• Swingin' Minstrel (Good Time Jazz, 1963)
• Oh! By Jingo (Delmark, 1964)
• Happy Melodies (ABC-Paramount, 1965)
• Live at Earthquake McGoon's (ABC-Paramount, 1966)
• More of Manassas (Fat Cat Jazz, 1969)
• Mr. Hayes Goes to Washington (Clanco, 1972)
• Satchel of Song (San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation, 2001)

With Bob Scobey

• The San Francisco Jazz of Bob Scobey (Verve, 1957)
• Between 18th and 19th on Any Street (RCA Victor, 1957)
• Beauty and the Beat (RCA Victor, 1957)
• Direct from San Francisco! (Good Time Jazz, 1957)
• Scobey & Clancy Raid the Juke Box (California, 1958)
• College Classics (RCA Victor, 1958)