Biography
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Born
24 October 1997 (age 27)
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Born In
Tooting, Wandsworth, London, England, United Kingdom
RAYE (Rachel Agatha Keen, born 24 October 1997) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer from Tooting who grew up in Croydon, South London. Raised in a musical household by a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and an English father, she learned piano as a child, attended the BRIT School briefly and began uploading music in 2014 with the R\&B-tinged EP Welcome to the Winter. She established a dual profile as a solo artist and a songwriter for other performers, earning credits with artists including Beyoncé, Charli XCX, John Legend and Little Mix. After a protracted dispute with Polydor over the withholding of an album, RAYE left the label and independently released her debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues, on 3 February 2023; the album, which she co-wrote and co-produced, drew on jazz, soul and contemporary pop influences and produced the single “Escapism”, which became her first UK number-one and marked her first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100. Her independent era brought major industry recognition, including a record number of BRIT Awards in 2024. Her stated influences range from classic jazz and soul artists such as Nina Simone and Etta James to modern songwriters such as Lauryn Hill.
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