Raye (singer)

Rachel Agatha Keen[1] (born 24 October 1997), known professionally as Raye (stylised in all caps), is a British singer and songwriter from London. Raye debuted with her EP Welcome To The Winter which was released on 11 December 2014.[2] She is best recognised for featuring on Jonas Blue's 2016 single "By Your Side" and Jax Jones' 2016 single "You Don't Know Me", the latter co-written by Raye herself and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. Raye would release her second EP titled Second on 11 August 2016 which was followed by single "I, U, Us". She was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of... award for 2017 and was named in third place. Her single "Decline" with Mr Eazi, was released as the lead single for her third EP Side Tape and would be certified Platinum by the BPI. Side Tape was released on 4 May 2018.

Raye
Birth nameRachel Agatha Keen[1]
Born (1997-10-24) 24 October 1997
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2014–present
LabelsPolydor
Associated acts
Websiteraye-music.com

Early life

Rachel Agatha Keen was born on 24 October 1997 in Tooting, London,[3] to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and an English father. She moved to Croydon, where she studied at Woodcote High School before being accepted to attend the BRIT School for two years before dropping out after she felt "confined...despite learning an extensive amount."[4]

Career

2014–15: Early beginnings and Welcome To The Winter

On 11 December 2014, Raye released her debut extended play Welcome to the Winter.[2] Raye released the singles "Flowers" and "Alien" on 7 February 2015 and 28 April 2015 respectively, the latter featuring London based rapper Avelino.[5] [6]

2016–2018: Breakthrough, Second and Side Tape

On 11 August 2016, Raye released her second extended play Second.[7] "I, U, Us" was released as the lead single from the EP on 14 October 2016.[8] A video was released which was directed by British singer/songwriter Charli XCX.

She featured on Jonas Blue's single "By Your Side". It was released on 28 October 2016 and peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. She also featured on Jax Jones' single "You Don't Know Me", released on 9 December 2016. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart.

On 9 February 2017, Raye performed her first headline concert at XOYO in Shoreditch, London.[9] Raye was featured alongside Starrah on the track "Dreamer" from Charli XCX's Number 1 Angel mixtape, which was released on 10 March 2017.

On 3 November 2017, Raye released 'Decline' featuring Mr Eazi, which peaked at Number 15 on the UK Chart and has been certified Platinum in the same country. On 22 February 2018, Raye released a collaborative single titled 'Cigarette' with Mabel and Stefflon Don. The song peaked at Number 41 on the UK Chart and has a Silver certification. Both singles would appear on Raye's third extended play, titled Side Tape, which was consequently released on 4 May 2018.

In March 2018, Raye collaborated with Kojo Funds and released "Check" which peaked at Number 26 on the UK Chart and has been certified Gold. Later in 2018, Raye released the single titled "Friends" which peaked at Number 66 on the UK Chart as well.

In September 2018, Raye supported Halsey on the European leg of the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour. In October 2018, Raye headlined her own tour visiting a number of cities around the UK and Ireland.

2019–present: Upcoming debut studio album

In April 2019, it was announced Raye would support Khalid on his Free Spirit World Tour in Autumn 2019, alongside Mabel.

She also worked with Odunsi on the song "Tipsy". Raye collaborated with David Guetta on the single "Stay (Don't Go Away)" which was released in May 2019 and peaked at Number 41 on the UK Chart. Another Guetta collaboration, "Make It to Heaven" was later released on 22 November 2019 along with producer Morten.

In August 2019, Raye released the single "Love Me Again" whilst a remix of the song with Jess Glynne was later released on 30 August 2019. The single would later peak at Number 55 on the UK Chart and has been certified Silver.

Raye was revealed to be a co-writer on the track "Bigger" sung by American singer Beyoncé, which would be featured on the soundtrack album The Lion King: The Gift released on 19 July 2019.

Follow up singles "Please Don't Touch" and "All of My Love", the latter featuring rapper Young Adz, were released on 13 December 2019 and 6 February 2020 respectively. "Tequila" was released as a single in collaboration with DJs Jax Jones and Martin Solveig on 21 February 2020. The song would peak at Number 21 on the UK Chart as well as peaking inside the top 20 on the Ireland and Scotland charts.

A collaboration with DJ Regard titled "Secrets" was released on 24 April 2020.[10] The song would go onto peak at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart as well as top the UK Dance Chart.[11][12] The song also reached the top 10 in Ireland and Scotland as well as charting in countries such as the Netherlands, France and Belgium making it Raye's first chart appearance as a lead artist.

Discography
Main article: Raye discography

Tours

Headline

  • Raye Live (2018)

Supporting

References
  1. "Don't Leave". uk.warnerchappell.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  2. "Raye (3) – Welcome to the Winter".
  3. "Raye – Simon Jones PR".
  4. "BBC Sound of 2017: Raye interview".
  5. "Raye (3) – Flowers".
  6. "Raye (3) – Alien".
  7. "SECOND – EP by RAYE on Apple Music".
  8. "I, U, Us (The Remixes) – EP by RAYE on Apple Music".
  9. "XOYO website. Retrieved February 2017".
  10. https://music.apple.com/us/album/secrets-single/1506786986
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  12. "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40 | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.