Before Macy Gray became internationally known for “I Try,” she was a young songwriter in Los Angeles balancing an uncertain music career, motherhood, and a difficult marriage. At the center of that period was Tracey Hinds, the mortgage professional she married in 1996. Their relationship ended before Gray’s breakthrough, but it remains an important part of the story surrounding her early career and family life.

Hinds has never maintained the kind of public profile associated with his former wife, so the reliable record about him is relatively narrow. What can be established is his mortgage-industry career, his 1996 marriage to Gray, their separation in 1997, their divorce in 1998, and their three children. Gray has also directly connected the writing of “I Try” to what she was experiencing in that marriage, giving Hinds a documented connection to one of the songs that defined her career.

Fact	Verified information
Name	Tracey Hinds; some publications spell it Tracy Hinds
Known for	Former husband of singer-songwriter Macy Gray
Career	Mortgage collector / mortgage broker
Marriage	Married Macy Gray in 1996
Separation	August 1997
Divorce	1998
Children	Three
Public career	No well-documented entertainment career
Current life	Little reliable public information is available

Spelling note: The Guardian consistently uses “Tracy Hinds,” while other sources use “Tracey Hinds.” The available evidence points to the same former spouse of Macy Gray.

Who Was Tracey Hinds?

Tracey Hinds was working in the mortgage field when he became involved with Macy Gray. Contemporary reporting described him as a mortgage collector, while later profiles called him a mortgage broker. Gray was already pursuing music in Los Angeles when the relationship developed, although her career was still far from secure.

The strongest biographical sources do not establish a detailed early-life biography for Hinds. Claims about a basketball career, a precise birth date, education, or other personal background are repeated on some low-quality celebrity sites, but they are not sufficiently supported by the better-documented accounts of his life. For a reliable profile, the mortgage profession and his relationship with Gray are the clearest established details.

His importance to popular culture comes almost entirely from those years with Gray. He was not the executive who relaunched her record career, nor is there evidence that he held a professional position in the music business. His role was personal: he was Gray’s husband and the father of her three children during the difficult period immediately before her breakthrough.

Macy Gray and Tracey Hinds’ Marriage

Gray and Hinds married in 1996, with the wedding taking place in Las Vegas, according to a detailed Guardian profile. At the time, Gray’s first record deal with Atlantic Records had already failed to produce a released album. The label eventually dropped her, and she was also caring for young children as the marriage deteriorated.

The marriage lasted only about two years. Gray and Hinds separated in August 1997, when Gray was seven months pregnant with their third child, and the divorce was finalized in 1998. Later Guardian coverage confirms the 1998 divorce and identifies Hinds as Gray’s former mortgage-broker husband.

Gray has spoken publicly about how difficult that period was. In the 2001 Guardian profile, she described the couple as fighting “all day, all the time” and reflected on the emotional low point surrounding the end of her marriage and the collapse of her first record deal.

“My marriage had ended and my career hadn’t worked out.” — Macy Gray

That account is Gray’s description of her own experience. It helps explain why the Hinds marriage remains part of biographies of Gray, while also making clear that most of the publicly available detail comes from Gray rather than from extensive interviews with Hinds himself.

Their Three Children

Gray has consistently said that she and Hinds had three children, born within a remarkably short period. In a 2012 Guardian interview, she gave the birth years and described how closely together the children arrived.

• Aanisah Hinds — Born in January 1995. Aanisah later developed a career in graphic design and creative work. A current professional profile describes her as a graphic designer with experience in web, branding, print, packaging, and related design services.
• Tahmel Hinds — Born in December 1995. Tahmel has appeared in music credits as a musician and performer, including a credited collaboration associated with Macy Gray. AllMusic lists him on Gray’s Ruby project as a composer and background vocalist, while another music database identifies him as a performer.
• The youngest child — Born in 1997. Gray called the child “Happy” in her 2012 Guardian interview. Some secondary biographical sources identify the youngest as Cassius Hinds, so “Happy” appears to be the family or public name used for the same child, although Gray’s Guardian interview itself does not give the full name.

Gray’s own description is useful because it avoids one common problem in online biographies: several databases contain conflicting birth years for the children. Her 2012 interview is the clearest first-person source for the sequence—Aanisah in January 1995, Tahmel in December 1995, and the youngest in 1997.

Did Tracey Hinds Influence Macy Gray’s Music?

There are two different answers depending on what “influence” means.

Professionally, there is no evidence that Hinds launched or managed Gray’s music career. The turning point after Atlantic Records dropped her came through music publisher and A&R figure Jeff Blue, who found her demo and helped persuade her to return to Los Angeles. Gray subsequently signed with Epic Records and began the recording process that led to On How Life Is.

Creatively, however, Gray herself provides a direct connection between her marriage to Hinds and “I Try.” In a 2014 interview, she explained:

“I Try” was written a long time ago, during the time I was married, and it’s about what I was going through with my ex-husband at the time.

That is a much stronger claim than saying Hinds “created” Gray’s career. It means the emotional experience of her marriage became material for her songwriting.

The distinction matters because On How Life Is was not simply an album “about Tracey Hinds.” The record covers a much wider range of subjects and emotions. Contemporary and retrospective sources describe themes including love, loss, troubled relationships, sexuality, spirituality, and personal experience.

The song “Still,” for example, portrays a troubled and abusive relationship, but available songwriting and interview sources do not establish that Gray wrote it specifically about Hinds. It is therefore more accurate to say that Hinds was part of the life experience surrounding Gray’s breakthrough songwriting than to assign him as the direct subject of every relationship song on the album.

How the Divorce Coincided With Macy Gray’s Breakthrough

The timing of Gray’s personal and professional setbacks is what makes Hinds’ place in her story especially significant.

In 1997, Gray was dealing with the collapse of her Atlantic Records deal and the end of her marriage while pregnant with her third child. After separating from Hinds, she returned to her parents’ home in Canton, Ohio, believing her opportunity in music might have passed.

Then Jeff Blue entered the story. He heard Gray’s material, tracked her down, and persuaded her to give music another chance. Her next record deal was with Epic, and On How Life Is followed in 1999.

The album eventually became a major commercial breakthrough. “I Try” was its signature hit, and Gray won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song. The Recording Academy also lists “I Try” as a nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year that year.

That sequence explains why Hinds appears so often in searches connected to Macy Gray: his marriage ended just as one chapter of her life was closing and another was beginning.

Where Is Tracey Hinds Now?

This is the part of the story for which the public record becomes thin.

As of 2026, major published profiles of Macy Gray continue to identify Hinds as her former husband and the father of her three children, but they do not provide dependable information establishing his current residence, occupation, relationship status, or day-to-day life.

That does not necessarily mean he disappeared completely from private life; it simply means there is not enough reliable public reporting to build a current biography around those details.

One additional identity issue is worth keeping separate. There are entertainment-industry credits for people named Tracey Hinds, including IMDb records, but a matching name alone does not establish that those credits belong to Macy Gray’s former husband. They should not automatically be merged into his biography.

Is Tracey Hinds in the Music Industry?

No reliable source establishes Tracey Hinds as a professional musician, producer, manager, executive, or other music-industry figure.

The music careers documented in the Hinds family are instead associated with Macy Gray and their children, particularly Tahmel, who has credited work as a performer and musician. Hinds himself is consistently described in the available biographical record as a mortgage professional.

That distinction also helps answer why searches for Tracey Hinds can produce confusing results. Some pages merge family members, shared names, or unrelated entertainment profiles, creating a biography that appears much fuller than the reliable evidence actually supports.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Macy Gray and Tracey Hinds divorce?

Macy Gray and Tracey Hinds divorced in 1998. They had separated in August 1997, when Gray was seven months pregnant with their third child.

How many children do Tracey Hinds and Macy Gray have?

They have three children: Aanisah, Tahmel, and a youngest child whom Gray publicly called Happy. Secondary sources identify that youngest child as Cassius Hinds.

Is Tracey Hinds a musician?

There is no reliable evidence that Tracey Hinds built a career as a musician. He is documented primarily as a mortgage collector or mortgage broker.

Did Tracey Hinds inspire Macy Gray’s “I Try”?

Gray herself said that “I Try” was written while she was married and was about what she was going through with her ex-husband at the time. That makes the song’s connection to the relationship directly supported by her own statement. It does not establish that every song on On How Life Is was about Hinds.

Tracey Hinds’ Place in Macy Gray’s Story

Tracey Hinds is remembered publicly not because he pursued fame himself, but because of the short, consequential chapter he shared with Macy Gray. Their marriage began in 1996, ended with separation in 1997 and divorce in 1998, and produced three children. During the same period, Gray lost her first record deal, returned temporarily to Ohio, and found the opportunity that eventually led to On How Life Is.

The strongest link between Hinds and Gray’s music is not a business partnership but Gray’s own account of her songwriting. She specifically connected “I Try” to her experience during the marriage, while the broader album reflected a much wider range of personal experiences and emotions. The result was a debut that turned a difficult period in Gray’s life into one of the defining releases of her career.

For that reason, the most accurate portrait of Tracey Hinds is also the simplest: a mortgage professional, Macy Gray’s former husband, and the father of her three children whose relationship became part of the personal history behind one of the singer’s most famous songs.

Tracey Hinds was Macy Gray’s mortgage-broker ex-husband, father of her three children, and the man linked to the story behind “I Try.”

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