Jump to content

Finley Quaye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finley Quaye
Birth nameFinley Ellington Quaye McGowan
Born(1974-03-25)25 March 1974(age 50)
Edinburgh,Scotland
Genres
Instrument(s)
Years active1993–present
Labels

Finley Ellington Quaye McGowan[4](born 25 March 1974, inEdinburgh,Scotland)[5]is a Scottish musician. He won the 1997MOBO Awardfor bestreggaeact, and the 1998BRIT Award[6]for Best Male Solo Artist.

Life[edit]

Finley Quaye is the son of vaudeville pianistCab Kayeand the half-brother of the English singerTerri Quayeand guitaristCaleb Quaye.

Born in Edinburgh, Quaye went to school inLondon,Manchesterand Edinburgh. However, he left school with no qualifications. Before making records he took employment spraying cars, smoking fish, making futons and as a stage-rigger and scaffolder.

His father was born in London, but considered himself asAfrican.Although known as Cab Kaye, his full name was Nii Lante Augustus Kwamlah Quaye and he was a Chief of theGatribe centralized in Jamestown,Accra, Ghana.Kaye was the son of the pianist Caleb Jonas Quaye a.k.a. Mope Desmond, who was born in Accra, Ghana. Finley did not grow up with his father and only found out in his twenties about his father's history as a musician. Mope Desmond, Cab Kaye and Finley Quaye have all playedGlasgow'sBarrowlands,Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall and London'sCafe de Paris.Finley was on tour with his band when he met his father for the first time inAmsterdam.

Finley Quaye was inspired early on in his childhood by jazz musicians Pete King,Ronnie Scott,who started his musical career making tea and running errands in Finley's father's band, andLionel Hampton.Quaye heard jazz as a child, living in London with his mother, who would take him with her toRonnie Scott's jazz club to catch performances of American jazz musicians touring Europe such asBuddy Rich,who recorded his live album therein 1980.Quaye's mother had long-term relationships with musician Pete King, who hosted and performed at Ronnie Scott's club in Frith Street, London, as well asDodi Fayed,a film producer who producedBreaking GlasswithHazel O'Connor.

In April 2012, Quaye was charged with aggravated assault in Edinburgh.[7][8]He was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 225 hours of unpaid work.[9]In November of the same year, he was declared bankrupt with a tax debt of £383,000 afterHMRCapplied to the courts to recover the money. Official documents stated that Quaye had "zero assets".[8]Quaye also admitted possession of cannabis in 2003.[10]

Career[edit]

Quaye made a solorecording contractwithPolydor Recordsand moved to New York City. He began working withEpic/Sonywhen Polydor let him out of contract, and in late 1997 he reached the UKTop 20twice, with "Sunday Shining" and "Even After All".[11]His reputation was established byMaverick A Strike,released in September 1997. It wentgoldless than three weeks later, and led directly to theBRIT Awardvictory. The album is now certified 2× platinum in the UK.[12]In 1998, Quaye performedGeorge Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So"for theRed Hot Organization's compilation albumRed Hot + Rhapsody,a tribute toGeorge Gershwin,which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

Two more albums were released onEpic,Vanguard(2000) andMuch More Than Much Love(2004). "Spiritualized" became his last single to score a top 40 landing in the UK chart when it was released in September 2000, reaching number 26.[11]In 2004 the single "Dice"was released in collaboration withWilliam Orbitand featuringBeth Orton.The song featured inFox Network'sThe OCand on the season 1 soundtrack, becoming a minor hit.[citation needed]

He released the EPPound for Poundwith Intune Records in 2008, with Norman Grant of theTwinkle BrothersfeaturingSly DunbarandLloyd Parks.He recorded in 1998 withBuju BantonandSly Dunbarin Kingston, Jamaica at Penthouse Studios and also recorded with Tricky and Iggy Pop at Sony Music Studios, in Manhattan, New York City.[citation needed]

In July 2015 he was forced off stage mid-performance by the owner of a music club inGloucestershirewho criticised him for lacking professionalism.[13]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

Year Album Peak positions Certifications
UK
[11] 		AUS
[14] 		FRA
[15] 		NL
[16] 		NZ
[17]
1997 Maverick a Strike 3 77 38 46 11
2000 Vanguard 35 — 44 — —
2003 Much More Than Much Love 56 — 148 — —
2012 28 February Rd. — — — — —
2014 Royal Rasses — — — — —
2017 Straight from the Country — — — — —
2019 Faux Naïf[18] — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Compilations[edit]

  • The Best of the Epic Years 1995-2003(2008)

Extended plays[edit]

  • Oranges and Lemons(2005)
  • Pound for Pound(2008)

Singles[edit]

Year Single Peak positions Album
UK
[11] 		NL
[16] 		US
Alt.
[19] 		US
Dance
Sales
[20]
1997 "Sunday Shining" 16 80 26 — Maverick A Strike
"Even After All" 10 — — —
"It's Great When We're Together" 27 — — —
1998 "Your Love Gets Sweeter" 16 — — —
"Ultra Stimulation" 51 — — —
2000 "Spiritualized" 26 — — — Vanguard
"When I Burn off into the Distance" 80 — — —
2003 "Dice"(withWilliam Orbit) — — — 18 Much More Than Much Love
"Something to Say"(promotional single) — — — —
2006 "For My Childrens Love" — — — — Royal Rasses
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Other collaborations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Kenon, Marci (16 September 2000)."An Onslaught of New Product".Billboard.p. 68.Retrieved23 January2021– viaGoogle Books.
  2. ^Monger, Timothy (n.d.)."Finley Quaye: Biography & History".AllMusic.Retrieved23 January2021.
  3. ^Sullivan, James (28 February 1998)."U.K. Star Sings Through a Prism / Quaye owes his fresh sound to many sources"– viaSFGATE.
  4. ^"ALL OVER AGAIN".ASCAP.American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.Retrieved10 July2023.
  5. ^Music Scotland – The Vault – Biogs.BBC (25 March 1974). Retrieved 2014-04-19.
  6. ^"Finley Quaye Backs Brits Win with New Single and Tour".NME.16 January 1998.
  7. ^"Reggae star Finley Quaye in Leith assault charge".BBC. 11 April 2012.Retrieved6 March2013.
  8. ^ab"Shamed Capital reggae musician Finley Quaye is broke".
  9. ^"Reggae star Finley Quaye sentenced to 225 hours of unpaid work".BBC. 23 October 2012.Retrieved6 March2013.
  10. ^Desk, NME News (14 July 2015)."Promoter kicks Finley Quaye offstage during gig: 'I won't pollute my venue with bullshit' - watch".NME.Retrieved11 July2019.
  11. ^abcd"Official Charts > Finley Quaye".Official Charts Company.Retrieved13 May2020.
  12. ^ab"BRIT Certified > Certified Awards Search".British Phonographic Industry.Retrieved13 May2020.N.B. User needs to enter 'Finley Quay' into the search box to display results.
  13. ^"Promoter kicks Finley Quaye offstage during gig: 'I won't pollute my venue with bullshit' – watch".NME.14 July 2015.
  14. ^Ryan, Gavin (2011).Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010(pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 227.
  15. ^"lescharts.com > Finley Quaye dans les Charts Français"(in French). Hung Medien.Retrieved13 May2020.
  16. ^ab"dutchcharts.nl > Finley Quay in Dutch Charts"(in Dutch). Hung Medien.Retrieved13 May2020.
  17. ^"charts.nz > Finley Quay in New Zealand Charts".Hung Medien.Retrieved13 May2020.
  18. ^"OLD BAKERY STUDIOS | Finley Quaye + Rosie Crow SOLD OUT".OLD BAKERY STUDIOS.27 September 2019.
  19. ^"Billboard > Chart History > Finley Quaye > Alternative Songs".Billboard.Retrieved13 May2020.
  20. ^"Billboard > Chart History > Finley Quaye > Dance Singles Sales".Billboard.Retrieved13 May2020.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Finley_Quaye&oldid=1222327246"