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Jason " Jay" Kay (born Jason Luís Cheetham, 30 December 1969) is a British singer and songwriter. In 1992, he co-founded the acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai and still serves as their lead vocalist. As of 2017, the band had sold more than 26 million albums worldwide.
Outside music, Kay is known for his interest in luxury cars, and made appearances in the shows Top Gear and Fifth Gear. He has also contributed to environmental causes. Kay previously had a high-profile relationship with Denise van Outen.
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/ref> At the age of 15, he was homeless and turned to small crimes to survive; he returned home after a false arrest and near-death experience, working as a break-dancer and soon pursuing a career in music. It was reported that he failed an audition to become a singer for the Brand New Heavies before forming his own band, although the Brand New Heavies denied this.
Kay is well known for his array of elaborate hats and headgear. Professional appearances for concerts, interviews and the like have prompted descriptions of Kay as "the mad hatter" for his love of headgear. In 2005, it was announced that Kay, often referred to as "the cat in the hat", was launching a range of distinctive clothing, including his trademark hats, on his new "Quai" label. The Indian Country Media Network criticised him for wearing headdresses originating from Native American populations, including the feathered war bonnet (as seen in the music video and CD single artwork for "Corner of the Earth" as well as on the album artwork for 2010's Rock Dust Light Star).
On 9 October 2017, Kay received the BMI President's Award at the BMI London Awards. That same year, he seriously injured his spine. Requiring surgery, it led to Jamiroquai cancelling two shows in Tokyo for their Automaton Tour, which were rescheduled later that year.
Kay has appeared on four episodes of the BBC car show Top Gear. In series 1, episode 2, he set a lap time of 1:48.1 for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" using the Suzuki Aerio, holding the fastest lap time for all of the first series and most of the second series. In series 3, episode 4, Kay drove his Lamborghini Miura with Richard Hammond as a passenger. His third appearance was in series 11, episode 6, where his lap time of 1:45.81 using the Daewoo Lacetti beat the top time held by Simon Cowell by one-tenth of a second; this car's record remained unbeaten throughout the entire series' run despite there being 58 drivers in total for the Chevrolet Lacetti, with AC/DC's Brian Johnson coming in second place for this car with 1:45.85. Kay won Top Gear's "John Sergeant Award" for the best dance after learning that his time on the Top Gear test track was the fastest lap time in 2008. On 24 May 2004, Kay appeared on Season 5, Episode 9 of Channel 5 series Fifth Gear. He gave the presenters a tour around his property whilst showing off his collection of cars.
In May 2002, Kay was questioned by police after an altercation at a premiere party for , outside the St Martin's Lane Hotel, where it was alleged a photographer kicked his £70,000 Bentley after Kay had attempted to grab him as his car drove off. Kay harangued the photographer and his girlfriend, causing the man to give him a severe headbutt to the nose. The pair were separated with blood streaming from Kay's shattered nose. The fight almost resumed inside the hotel, and Kay was photographed in a distressed state. He sported a black eye at his next gig. He was also reported to have got into a scuffle at an afterparty for the 2002 BRIT Awards.
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In March 2009, Kay's black Ferrari Enzo suffered nearly £10,000 worth of damage during an altercation with hotel chef Aaron Billington at the Brudenell Hotel in Aldeburgh. Billington, who was drunk and motivated by romantic interest in a woman with whom Kay was interacting, lost his job and was jailed for 20 weeks.
The song "Black Devil Car" from the album Dynamite is a tribute to his black Ferrari Enzo. A Die-cast toy 1:18 scale-model series of Kay's black Enzo from Hot Wheels was available for purchase, including a limited batch of cars with hand-signed windscreens.
Kay competed in the Celebrity Challenge race at the 2012 Silverstone Classic, finishing third behind AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson and actor Kelvin Fletcher.
At the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Kay showcased his signal green LaFerrari, the only one of its colour in the world. He sold the car in 2019.
Kay is married to Maria Kay, and they have two daughters, Carla and Tallulah. The track "Carla" from the Automaton album is a tribute to his first daughter. There is also a track called "Talullah" from Jamiroquai's 2005 album Dynamite, although the spelling on the album is different to his daughter's name.
Kay stated in 2010 that he had a "substantial" cocaine habit before quitting his drug use in 2003, said to have been triggered over his break-up with Denise van Outen.
Kay formerly lived in the Ealing area of London, where he played some of his first gigs. Since 1995 he has owned Horsenden Manor at Horsenden, near Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire where he has a recording studio, granary and garages. In 2020 he applied to extend the property. In another interview, he talked about how he has made his home environmentally sustainable, including tending to his own garden without , caring for livestock, creating an eco-friendly waste-removal system at great cost, and maximising his recycling. Kay and the band also put aside a significant portion of their royalties to environmental causes. He also owned a property in Gairloch,
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When asked in a 1996 interview about having conventional religious beliefs, Kay responded, "I follow the religion of the trees and the greenery. I follow the religion of the moon. I believe in what people leave behind in the sense of trails and spirits, the energy which they project. I believe in vibrations, which is what the whole world runs on."
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