2010 Rockstars Jay Sean

"I was halfway finished with my medical degree
when my first record deal presented itself..."

The emergence of R&B singer Jay Sean looks set to redefine the UK's urban music rulebook. As the UK's first Asian crossover superstar, Sean has already tasted chart success with the slick anthem Dance With You (Nachna Tere Naal). But what makes Jay Sean such an exciting musical proposition is that as a UK born and bred artist his unique appeal is that he fuses 'Desi' rhythms with a credible R&B sensibility to produce a thoroughly authentic sound. With the highly-contagious Eyes On You already dominating radio nationally, Sean's eagerly-awaited debut album has garnered positive critical anticipation from both the streets and the broadsheets in equal measure. It's not everyday you come across an urban music singer who includes punk and stadium rock as important to his musical upbringing as hip hop and R&B.

However, Jay Sean isn't your run of the mill urban music artist. Having given up a promising medical career in favour of his first love, music, Jay Sean's story begins more than a decade ago in Hounslow, west London. "I started rapping 11 years ago," Sean remembers. "I was in a group called Compulsive Disorder, it was a punk-rap group. We got ourselves a few gigs and when DJs such as Choice FM's 279 played it, we received a lot of local notoriety." Disillusioned with the UK's cynical rap scene, focussed as it was, on the colour of his skin rather than the content of his songs, Sean quickly immersed himself in R&B. "Hip hop was my first love, but as soon as I got into producing, R&B became my mistress. As a teenager, I grew up on a cocktail of music. I was surrounded by a lot of different influences from black, white and Asian friends," says the 22 year old. Integral to Jay Sean's trademark smooth R&B sound is the flawless production of UK superproducer Rishi Rich. The relationship, as Sean admits, is based on total trust and an obvious appreciation of one another's respective talents. "Rishi's an important part of my whole career, he's fundamental," says Sean.

"I was halfway finished with my medical degree when my first record deal presented itself..."

"I was halfway finished with my medical degree
when my first record deal presented itself..."