Editing Jay Kay (section)

== Early life ==
Jay Kay was born Jason Luís Cheetham<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5838620.ece|title=Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay's Ferrari Enzo smashed up|last=Schmidt|first=Veronica|date=3 March 2009|work=The Times |location=UK|access-date=31 May 2011}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> in [[Stretford]], [[Lancashire]], on 30 December 1969,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&q=jamiroquai&pg=RA2-PA1986|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|last=Larkin|first=Colin|date=27 May 2011|page=1985|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9780857125958}}</ref> to English cabaret singer [[Karen Kay (TV personality)|Karen Kay]]<ref name="thisislanc">{{cite news |url=http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/archive/1997/03/10/Lancashire+Archive/6185298.Star_s_secret_past/ |title=Star's secret past |publisher=This Is Lancashire |access-date=6 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920235653/http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/archive/1997/03/10/Lancashire+Archive/6185298.Star_s_secret_past/ |archive-date=20 September 2012  }}</ref> and Portuguese guitarist Luís Saraiva.<ref name="me and my motors">{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article1074891.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1 | title=Me & my motors: Jay Kay| date=7 September 2003 | access-date=10 December 2010 | first=Jeremy |last=Hart |work=The Sunday Times }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> His parents split up, and he did not meet his biological father until he was about 28. His identical twin, David, died of brain damage a few weeks after the two were born, and makes him a [[twinless twin]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 October 2005 |title=This much I know |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/oct/30/popandrock |access-date=6 July 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 February 2014 |title=Interview: Jamiroquai singer/songwriter Jason Kay |newspaper=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/interview_jamiroquai_singer_songwriter_jason_kay_1_478844 |access-date=2023-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202191757/https://www.scotsman.com/news/interview_jamiroquai_singer_songwriter_jason_kay_1_478844 |archive-date=2 February 2014 }}</ref> Kay said in a 2010 interview that his mother raised him largely alone, and being that she was a cabaret singer, he had "an itinerant childhood", half of which he spent "living in rural [[Suffolk]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8064590/Jay-Kay-interview.html |title=Jay Kay interview |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=27 June 2013}}</ref> Kay attended several [[boarding school]]s throughout his childhood, including in [[Devon]]. He often accompanied his mother at her performances.<ref name="tommoon">{{Cite news|last=Moon|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Moon|date=29 May 1997|title=Jamiroquai's Sunny Song has a Serious Message: The Group Warns of a High-Tech 'Virtual Insanity.'|work=[[Philadelphia Inquirer]]|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1841833235/E737482ED91B4B5EPQ|url-status=live|id={{ProQuest|1841833235 }} |access-date=23 February 2021|archive-date=2 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402225123/https://www.proquest.com/docview/1841833235/E737482ED91B4B5EPQ}}</ref> He and his mother would often travel to [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], U.S. where she would perform. He was babysat by several [[cabaret]] members.<ref>https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/jay-talking-7207521.html</ref> He moved back to [[Manchester]] with his mother and step-father Mervyn Kay after briefly living in Blackburn as a youngster. When he was 13, he and his family moved to [[West Ealing, London]]. He moved out at the age of 16.<ref>https://www.dangennoe.net/jay-kay-jamiroquai-esquire-magazine</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-03-10 |title=Star's secret past |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6185298.stars-secret-past/ |access-date=6 July 2023 |newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph}}</ref><ref name="thisislanc" /> At the age of 15, he was homeless and turned to small crimes to survive; he returned home after a false arrest and near-death experience, working as a break-dancer and soon pursuing a career in music.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> It was reported that he failed an audition to become a singer for [[the Brand New Heavies]] before forming his own band, although the Brand New Heavies denied this.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://5chicago.com/features/brand-new-heavies/|title=The Brand New Heavies: The 5 Magazine Interview|date=31 October 2012|magazine=5 Magazine|access-date=26 May 2018}}</ref>