Jay Kay - Early Life

Early Life

Kay was born in Stretford, Greater Manchester, England. Kay's mother, Karen Kay (born Adrianne Judith Pringle), is a former cabaret singer and television personality. Kay's biological father is Luís Saraiva, a Portuguese former professional guitarist, whom Kay did not meet until 2001.

After Jay Kay's identical twin, David, died some weeks after they were born, Karen brought Kay up largely alone, which gave him "an itinerant childhood, half of it living in 'rural Suffolk and rural Devon’", according to his 2010 The Daily Telegraph interview and his 1999/1994 television interviews. It is stated in the 1997 Lancashire Evening Telegraph article that Kay "moved with his mother and step-father Mervyn Kay to Manchester as a youngster." James Royal, often misidentified as Kay's stepfather, is Karen Kay's former manager whom she had a relationship with some time during Kay's childhood years. Royal had stated in his 2002 interview in News of the World about 13-year-old Kay's six-month stay in Thailand that he never married Karen Kay, but "still regards" Kay as his "stepson".

Kay attended Oakham School in Rutland.

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