Born in
Sedalia, Missouri, he was the son of Marion and Julia Hayden. Hayden is remembered today for the four rags he composed in collaboration with
Scott Joplin, "
Sunflower Slow Drag," "Something Doing," "Felicity Rag," "Kismet Rag" and also for another composition he wrote himself, "Pear Blossoms". There was a family connection of sorts between the two men, since Joplin's first wife, Belle Hayden, had been Scott Hayden's sister-in-law. Hayden married Nora Wright and lived with the Joplins in
St. Louis. Nora died giving birth to a daughter in 1901. Hayden moved to
Chicago, got a job as an
elevator operator in the
Cook County Hospital, and married Jeanette Wilkins. He died in Chicago of
pulmonary tuberculosis, leaving "Pear Blossoms" unfinished. ==References==