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Jay Sean
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Jay Sean (born Kamaljit Singh Jhooti on 26 March 1981) is a British Asian Pop singer-songwriter, best known for his hits "Stolen", "Eyes On You", "Ride It", and "Tonight". He has released two albums, Me Against Myself (2004) and My Own Way (2008). He is currently signed to Cash Money Records.
Jay Sean was born in the Southall neighbourhood of London. His parents migrated from the Jhelum district (now in Pakistan) of Punjab, British India to the United Kingdom. He had attended Sir George Monoux College and then Queen Mary, University of London to do medicine before he dropped out to pursue his career and signed with Virgin Records after his track "One Minute" fell into the hands of producer Rishi Rich.
His first taste of UK chart success was with his collaboration with Rishi Rich and Juggy D with the song, "Dance with You (Nachna Tere Naal)" which became a top twenty hit. Sean secured a one million pounds record deal with Virgin Records. His second single, "Eyes on You," became a top ten hit, peaking at number six. His third single, "Stolen," and his biggest hit to date in the United Kingdom, peaked at number four, with Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu making an appearance in the video. His debut album, Me Against Myself, was released and received much critical praise and acclaim. The album became a commercial success, not only in the UK, but abroad as well. In India it became a substantial hit, selling more than two million copies. He made a brief appearance in the Bollywood flick Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, and providing the song "Dil Mera (One Night)" to the soundtrack (a music video accompanied the song's appearance). In February 2006, after several delays of his second album, he left Virgin Records.
After parting ways with Virgin Records, Jay Sean returned in late 2007 with new single "Ride It", and was the first single from his second album My Own Way (provisionally titled Deal With It). It was to be the first album to release as a joint-venture between his own label Jayded and 2Point9 Records. The video for "Ride It" featured Jay Sean with a new style after being out of the limelight for nearly three and a half years.
The album 'My Own Way', debuted at number 6 in the UK official album chart. Also garnering Jay him the accolade of achieving 5 consecutive UK top 20 singles (Dance With You, Eyes On You, Stolen, Ride It and Maybe). On the back of this Jay received two MOBO award nominations, for Best UK Male (alongside Dizzee Rascal, Taio Cruz, Wiley and Sway) and Best R'n'B/Soul (alongside Usher, Estelle, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown).
At the 2008 UK Asian Music Awards (AMA), Jay Sean received two awards including Best Video for "Ride It and Best Urban Act. He went on to perform "Ride It" and "Maybe".
Touch Magazine in the U.K. described him as "the U.K.’s answer to Ne-Yo," while The Independent called him "...an urban legend in the making."
In August 2008, Jay Sean co-host London radio station Choice FM's Breakfast show a week in which he only performed a previously unheard tracks. The song was left to the listeners to decide, what the title should be. The unknown track was later confirmed to be called "Tonight" and is included in My Own Way: Deluxe Edition.
On October 15th, 2008 at the MOBO Awards, Jay Sean announced that he had signed with the American Hip-Hop oriented record label Cash Money Records. His first single in the US will be a track entitled "Down" featuring US rap superstar and label mate Lil Wayne, as well as a remix of "Tonight." He is the first British Asian singer to sign with a American label.
At the 2009 UK Asian Music Awards (AMA), Jay Sean won three awards, including "Best Male", "Best Urban Act" and "Best Album" for My Own Way.
My Own Way: The Deluxe Edition is just exclusive for the United Kingdom; the album has 2 additional songs, "Never Been In Love" and "I'm Gone", and 4 additional remixes.
On his first interview in America with MTV IGGY, Jay announced that he was recording five new songs for a re-release of My Own Way, one of which will be "Tonight" featuring Lil Wayne. Jay also discussed a collaboration with Akon at the Grammy Awards 2009, will also record a song with Nadine Coyle and believes the album will be released in Summer 2009. Jay Sean has also featured on a song called "Written on Her" alongside Birdman for the CEO’s next project. This song was played during an interview on Westwood Radio 1 with Birdman and Jay Sean.
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