Hubert Klyne Headley (West Virginia, 1906 – 1996) was an American composer, pianist and organist.
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When Headley was six, his mother, an organist, moved the family to California. When he was ten years old, he was introduced to Maurice Ravel, whose music has a strong effect on him. He went to study music at the University of the Pacific and graduated in 1928. He continued his studies at the Eastman School of Music of Howard Hanson and completed in 1937.
Two years later, he started teaching at the University of Santa Barbara and remained there until 1954. During that period he has succeeded to Maurice Faulkner as conductor of the University of California Symphony Orchestra in Santa Barbara. During that period he became internationally renowned as a composer but also as a pianist, performing concerts in which he was conductor of his own works, for example in Paris, London, Budapest and Prague. After 1954 he moved to Seattle and began teaching at the Cornish School of Applied Arts.
After a short period, he moved to Vancouver and remained there until his death. His music is today virtually unknown and many of his works are lost. In 2006, his music resurfaced by accident (see external link).
Robert Buckley, one of his students, known for arrangements for Bryan Adams and Celine Dion, and Stan MacDaniel joint responsibility for the recordings of his music in 2007.
In 2006, for the 100th anniversary of its birth, Russian State TV performed several of its compositions, including the "California Suite", conducted by Dmitry Yablonsky, a conductor that is notably focusing on making forgotten or unknown music available to audience. It had led to CD publication by the Naxos record label in a "American Classics" series.