Jay Sean’s real name is Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (Punjabi: ਕਮਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਝੁੱਟੀ (Gurmukhi); born 26 March 1981), better known by his stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, beatboxer and record producer. He debuted in the UK's Asian Underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. This led to him being signed to Virgin Records and having two UK top 10 hits as a solo artist in 2004: "Eyes On You" at #6 and "Stolen" at #4. They were included in his critically acclaimed debut album Me Against Myself which, though only moderately successful in the UK, sold more than two million copies across Asia and remains his most successful album to date. Alongside the Rishi Rich Project, Sean was a pioneer of Bhangra-R&B fusion, which his debut album helped popularize among the worldwide South Asian diaspora.
He eventually left Virgin in 2006 and founded his own independent label, Jayded Records. After a gap of nearly four years, he returned in 2008 with "Ride It", which reached #11 in the UK and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries, including Romania where it was one of the best-selling singles of the year. It was followed by hits such as "Maybe", which reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100, and "Tonight". They were included in his second album, My Own Way, which became his most successful album on the UK Albums Chart, reaching #6, and topped the UK R&B Chart. At around this time, he began increasingly incorporating electropop sounds into his R&B music.
Since the end of 2008, has he been signed to Cash Money Records. In 2009, his American debut single "Down" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first solo artist of South Asian origin and first UK urban act to top the Hot 100. It was the seventh-best selling song of 2009, having sold more than three million copies in the United States that year, eventually reaching four million sales in the United States[ and six million sales worldwide, making him the most successful British/European male urban artist in US chart history, It was soon followed by another hit, "Do You Remember", which has sold more than a million copies in the US, and entered the top ten on the Hot 100, making him the first male act since Chingy in 2003 to "simultaneously appear in the Hot 100 top 10 with his first two charting singles." They were included in his American-debut album All or Nothing, which debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200 and reached #11 on the Japan Oricon Albums Chart. Jay Sean is sometimes referred to as a "one-man boy band" and was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of 2009.
Growing up in London, Jay was obsessed with hip-hop before discovering R&B artists like Brian McKnight, Joe and Jodeci (he can still out-beatbox you upon demand). "I used to listen to Boys II Men religiously and try to copy the way they used to sing,” admits Jay Sean. “I'm a very studious person. When I love something, I want to learn everything there is about it."
This extends past music. While pursuing a degree in medicine at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the singer was simultaneously building a large and loyal street following with a fusion of hip-hop, pop, R&B and South Asian sounds. The labels took notice, and Jay Sean dropped out of school to pursue singing full-time. When Me Against Myself, his debut album, finally arrived in 2004, the fan-base once confined to a small area in London was now global. Sales worldwide were brisk, but when the label wanted to transform Jay Sean’s sound, he parted ways.
“That was a critical turning point in my whole career,” admits the singer. “I walked away from that label. I knew I wanted to do pop/R&B records, but there was no room for my kind of music on radio at the time. The label tried to make me do pop-rock and I told them, ‘I'm sorry, but that's not me. That's not why I quit medicine. I love my type of music and this is the artist I want to be.’ By that time, I had fans all around the world. I didn’t need them to tell me what kind of music I should be making."
After self-releasing My Own Way, his second album, Jay Sean quickly realized that the quality of the music outweighed any industry heft or marketing dollars. Cash Money CEO Ronald “Slim” Williams heard the lead single “Ride It” and agreed, making Jay Sean the first British artist on the label.
In the past five years, you could almost define popular music as pre- and post-“Down”.
“I guess that was one of the first real big pop/R&B records to hit the radio and came at a time where music was evolving and this type of sound was being strongly embraced,” says Jay Sean. "We knew it was a feel-good song with a strong pop anchor, but it still had that urban sensibility.”
Jay's confidence in himself and his music is clear. Yet one listen to “Average Man” off the Freeze Time shows a surprisingly honest awareness of the nature of this industry. In contrast to the braggadocio and “love me” accolades of many of his peers, the song is frank in its discussion of the ephemeral nature and artifice of celebrity and fame. “One day, the crowd’ll be all gone/And all these crazy days are done,” sings Jay Sean, adding, "And when the lights go out/And the curtains all come down/I'm just an average man."
But doubtful anytime soon. As for Freeze Time, Jay Sean is finally in a comfortable place after years of sonic searching. “As a songwriter, I was able to write great pop songs and great R&B songs but I never really had the ability to tie the two together until recently because I was experimenting so much with who I was as an artist,” admits the singer. “There's finally a platform for my style of music to be heard.”
Back at the studio, Jay Sean, already known from Australia to Algeria and Russia to Rio, is asked about the importance of success in America. The answer, per his style, is humorous, immediate and direct: “America is like the Holy Grail for many artists, including myself, and I realize I have a lot more work to do, but I'm a big dreamer and I love new challenges. It's what drives me. If the next step after America was the moon, I can guarantee you I'd be on the first rocket there."
This extends past music. While pursuing a degree in medicine at the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the singer was simultaneously building a large and loyal street following with a fusion of hip-hop, pop, R&B and South Asian sounds. The labels took notice, and Jay Sean dropped out of school to pursue singing full-time. When Me Against Myself, his debut album, finally arrived in 2004, the fan-base once confined to a small area in London was now global. Sales worldwide were brisk, but when the label wanted to transform Jay Sean’s sound, he parted ways.
“That was a critical turning point in my whole career,” admits the singer. “I walked away from that label. I knew I wanted to do pop/R&B records, but there was no room for my kind of music on radio at the time. The label tried to make me do pop-rock and I told them, ‘I'm sorry, but that's not me. That's not why I quit medicine. I love my type of music and this is the artist I want to be.’ By that time, I had fans all around the world. I didn’t need them to tell me what kind of music I should be making."
After self-releasing My Own Way, his second album, Jay Sean quickly realized that the quality of the music outweighed any industry heft or marketing dollars. Cash Money CEO Ronald “Slim” Williams heard the lead single “Ride It” and agreed, making Jay Sean the first British artist on the label.
In the past five years, you could almost define popular music as pre- and post-“Down”.
“I guess that was one of the first real big pop/R&B records to hit the radio and came at a time where music was evolving and this type of sound was being strongly embraced,” says Jay Sean. "We knew it was a feel-good song with a strong pop anchor, but it still had that urban sensibility.”
Jay's confidence in himself and his music is clear. Yet one listen to “Average Man” off the Freeze Time shows a surprisingly honest awareness of the nature of this industry. In contrast to the braggadocio and “love me” accolades of many of his peers, the song is frank in its discussion of the ephemeral nature and artifice of celebrity and fame. “One day, the crowd’ll be all gone/And all these crazy days are done,” sings Jay Sean, adding, "And when the lights go out/And the curtains all come down/I'm just an average man."
But doubtful anytime soon. As for Freeze Time, Jay Sean is finally in a comfortable place after years of sonic searching. “As a songwriter, I was able to write great pop songs and great R&B songs but I never really had the ability to tie the two together until recently because I was experimenting so much with who I was as an artist,” admits the singer. “There's finally a platform for my style of music to be heard.”
Back at the studio, Jay Sean, already known from Australia to Algeria and Russia to Rio, is asked about the importance of success in America. The answer, per his style, is humorous, immediate and direct: “America is like the Holy Grail for many artists, including myself, and I realize I have a lot more work to do, but I'm a big dreamer and I love new challenges. It's what drives me. If the next step after America was the moon, I can guarantee you I'd be on the first rocket there."
