Jason "Jay" Kay

Jason "Jay" Kay (born Jason Cheetham on 30 December, 1969 in Stretford, Lancashire) is an English funk musician. He is the principal member, songwriter, and lead singer of the band Jamiroquai.

Kay was born into a Jewish family only with his mother Karen Kay, a cabaret singer and impressionist who performed around the world, and stepfather James Royal. He did not meet his biological father, a man of Portuguese origin, until 2003. He was educated firstly at Holmwood House (Colchester) and then at the independent Oakham School in Rutland, and spent six months in Thailand at the age of thirteen with his stepfather.
Kay learned as a schoolboy that he had a twin brother who died at six weeks, and had a father whom he never met. Not being a schoolboy type of person [whilst displaying many of the talents that have made him famous he found it very difficult to conform to organisational rules], Kay found himself in trouble at school regularly, and after turning 15 he left home.

To support himself, Kay resorted to committing petty thievery and doing odd jobs, as he often lived on the streets. In 1989, he found himself in an unused taxi depot, which he described as having holes in the roof and no electricity. During his accommodation there, Kay was involved in a fight in which he was gassed in the face and nearly stabbed, and was then accused and arrested for a robbery he was alleged to have committed.

Upon returning home, he decided to change his life and began recording demos using his drum machine and some free studio time, and writing lyrics. During this time he coined the name Jamiroquai for his potential new band, based upon the name of a Native American tribe, the Iroquois, and "jam" from the word jamming, and also the distinctive Buffalo Man logo. His demos were soon spotted by the UK music label Acid Jazz, and Kay found himself signing a recording contract.

Kay initially formed Jamiroquai with original members Toby Smith (Keyboards), Stuart Zender (bass), Nick Van Gelder (drums), Wallis Buchanan (Didgeridoo) and Maurizio Ravelico on percussion, together with a guest appearance of Gavin Dodds (guitar) of The Brand New Heavies, both on the band's debut album, and on their first tour.
Jamiroquai has sold over twenty million albums, and has spent a collective 162 weeks on the UK singles chart in the 14 years since 1992 with Kay's personal wealth is said to be around £40,000,000.[citation needed] He appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List 2004 at (joint) 950th. However, the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 starts at a minimum £70m so Kay's relative wealth is now unknown by the public.
After the huge success of his first single, "When You Gonna Learn," a $1.9 million, eight album deal was signed with Sony records. The band's first album Emergency on Planet Earth became a fast seller, and the unique nature of Jamiroquai soon became apparent. However, not everyone was attracted by the different style of music Jamiroquai presented.

The band's third album Travelling Without Moving soon generated international attention with the ground breaking video of Virtual Insanity which earned Jamiroquai four MTV awards. Since then, their fourth album Synkronized has done just as well, which was recorded in Kay's home studio located in the garden of his 500 year old, 11 bedroom Buckinghamshire mansion. Although the press usually focus on Kay's passion for cars, his mansion and his love life, Jason Kay is environmentally aware and has donated a large quantity of his money to Greenpeace and Friends Of The Earth, as well as charities for the homeless. The main reason that his message is conveyed strongly through his music is because of his self-made nature, in the fact that all aspects of the band's work has to be approved by him, including artwork and credits.

On the production of his fourth album, a member of his band, Stuart Zender, departed from the band for reasons unclear (many suppose that the reason for departure was either Zender's lovelife, or unsettled payments). Some fans have speculated that Zender was fired by the band's record label, as he was an influential member of the band [1]). Consequently, Kay scrapped almost a complete album worth of work to eliminate the album of all traces of Stuart Zender's playing. Kay has many years in the business yet, as he recently expressed that he would like his band to continue writing music for another 15-20 years.
It was reported in February 2007 that Kay has quit music due to a loss of inspiration[1]. This was denied on Jamiroquai's official website the day after.

Jason Kay (Jay Kay) (szül. Jason Cheetham, Stretford, 1969. december 30.) angol zenész, a Jamiroquai énekese, zeneszerzője.
Kay anyja, Karen Kay jazzénekes mellett nőtt fel, apját 2003-ig nem is ismerte. Kay ikertestvére a születéskor meghalt. Gyermekkorában bandák tagjaként kisebb bűncselekmények részese volt, szinte hajléktalanként élt, az igazságszolgáltatással való összeütközése után azonban némileg megváltoztatta életmódját, és teljesen a zenélés felé fordult. Zenésztársakat gyűjtött maga mellé, és megalapította a Jamiroquait, eleinte Toby Smith, Stuart Zender, Derrick McKenzie és Wallis Buchanan társaságában. A zenekar 1992-ben jelent meg a lemezpiacon, áttörést 1994-ben sikerült elérniük. A kezdeti acid jazz stílusról fokozatosan a funk irányába tevődött át a hangsúly.
Jay Kay autószenvedélyéről is ismert. Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, Mercedes, Aston Martin egyaránt van gyűjteményében. Egyik albumának címlapjára egy átalakított Ferrari-emblémát tett, melyen az ágaskodó ló helyén az általa kreált buffalo-ember sziluettje látható. Többször bevonták jogosítványát gyorshajtásért.
A Jamiroquai körülbelül 20 millió lemezt adott el eddig.