Finley Quaye

Finley Quaye (born 25 March 1974, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish musician. He won the 1997 Mobo Award for best reggae act, and the 1998 BRIT Award for Best Male Solo Artist. His debut album, Maverick a Strike, a fusion of many styles including reggae and soul, was a commercial success and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.

Life

Finley Quaye is the son of vaudeville pianist Cab Kaye and the half-brother of the English guitarist Caleb Quaye.

Born in Edinburgh, Quaye went to school in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. However, he left school with no qualifications. Before launching his music career, he took various forms of employment including car-spraying, fish-smoking, making futons and as a stage-rigger and scaffolder.

Quaye's father was born in London but considered himself as African. Although known as Cab Kaye, his full name was Nii Lante Augustus Kwamlah Quaye and he was a Chief of the Ga tribe 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 fully about his father's musical career when he...

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