Finley Quaye

Finley was inspired early on in his childhood by jazz musicians, Pete King and Ronnie Scott, and Lionel Hampton. Additionally, Duke Ellington was Finley's Godfather. Finley heard Jazz as a child living in London with his mother who would take young Finley with her regularly to Ronnie Scott's jazz club catching very rare performances of American jazz musicians touring Europe such as Buddy Rich who recorded his live album there in 1980. His mother introduced him to Lionel Hampton in Edinburgh. Duke Ellington made an indelible impact on Finley's life and his musical outlook.

He made a solo record deal with Polydor Records, and moved to New York. He began working with Epic/Sony when Polydor let him out of contract, and in late 1997 he reached the UK Top 20 twice with "Sunday Shining", and "Even After All". His reputation was established by Maverick A Strike, an adventurous but accessible album released in September 1997. It went gold less than three weeks later, and led directly to the BRIT Award victory. Maverick A Strike is now multi platinum. Two more albums were released on Epic, Vanguard (2000) and Much More Than Much Love (2004). In 2004 the song "Dice", in collaboration with William Orbit, and featuring Beth Orton was a minor hit, helped in part by its inclusion on Music from the OC: Mix 1. Quaye has been living and working in Berlin since 2005.

Finley recorded "Pound For Pound" in 2007 with Reggae veteran Norman Grant of The Twinkle Brothers featuring Sly Dunbar and Lloyd Parks. In the past he has worked with Osibisa, both on stage and in the studio, with Iggy Pop, Tricky, Primal Scream, Lee Scratch Perry and Buju Banton.

Have a listen here: www.myspace.com/finleyquayeuk