Janet Kay
b. Janet Kay Bogle, January 17, 1958, London, England. Kay attended Brondesbury High School, Wembley, and later took up secretarial studies, skills which she has returned to at various junctures in her recording career. Her first recordings came under the aegis of Alton Ellisin 1977. This had been brought about by a chance meeting with members of Aswad that summer, who recommended her to the reggae stalwart. The first results of the collaboration, Loving You, topped the reggae charts. In many ways she was the prototype lovers rock singer, with her spirited vocals floating over some of the genre's most inspired bass lines. That's What Friends Are For and I Do Love You followed. However, her breakthrough arrived with Silly Games, produced by Dennis Bovell for the Arawak imprint. It became a huge crossover hit, going all the way to number 2 in 1979. Kay has returned to recording intermittently, predominantly in the lovers rock style, and has also acted extensively as part of the Black Theatre Co-operative, appearing several times in straight acting roles on television. Her work has never lost its popularity with the reggae audience, despite her low profile for much of the '80s and '90s, and she has the talent and personality to make it big on her own terms—it can only be a matter of time before the kind of success she so obviously deserves is finally hers.