Charlene Kaye (born September 12, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter, most widely known for her solo work under the name KAYE and as a former lead vocalist for San Fermin.

Career

Early solo career

In 2011, Kaye released the song "Dress and Tie", a duet with

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

. She released her second full-length album ''Animal Love'' in 2012. It reached #15 on the iTunes pop charts in the week of release and received praise from ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...

'' and support from '' Glamour''.

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communic ...

called it "at once classic and contemporary, a mix of glam rock and classical music in just the right measures" and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' described it as "a richly orchestrated pop album". In March 2011 and 2013, Kaye played at the

SXSW Music Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

Miracle Musical: Hawaii: Part II

Kaye was involved in the Miracle Musical album Hawaii: Part II, the side project of

Tally Hall Tally Hall is an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002. The band is known for upbeat melodies and whimsical lyrics. The members originally described their musical style as "wonky rock," later redefining their soun ...

member Joe Hawley, which released on December 12, 2012. Kaye wrote and provided vocals for the eighth song in the album ''Hawaii: Part II''. Kaye's likeness was also used in th
''Labyrinth'' music video
released on December 14, 2014.

San Fermin

In April 2014, Kaye joined the collective San Fermin replacing the former vocalist Rae Cassidy. She toured behind the band's previously released record ''San Fermin'' and later, as a full member, recorded the band's following two records, ''Jackrabbit'' (2015) and ''Belong'' (2017)''.'' In April 2019, the band announced that, after five years, Kaye was leaving to pursue her solo career. Her final performance was on April 26, 2019, at San Fermin's special concert to promote their new live record ''Live At The Fillmore'' (2019) and their documentary film ''No Promises''.

KAYE

While touring with San Fermin on their ''Jackrabbit'' tour, Kaye began a new solo project under the name KAYE. Her first release was a pair of

promotional singles A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

, "Honey" and "UUU", in July 2016. She released a five-track EP on September 29, 2016, titled ''Honey''. This was followed by three non-album singles, "Parakeeter" (November 2016), "Cheshire Kitten" (July 2017) and "Bamboo" (September 2017). In April 2019, Kaye was focusing on writing and recording music as KAYE full-time.

Personal life

Kaye was born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

. She grew up outside

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

, also living for a time in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

during childhood. She began playing music at an early age, taking lessons in violin, piano, guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, saxophone and clarinet. Kaye attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

as an

English major English studies (usually called simply English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries; it is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is ...

, where she met Team Starkid with which she went on their S.P.A.C.E. Tour, where she was able to promote her music for the first time, and then kept performing throughout the years. Kaye lives in New York City.

Discography

As Charlene Kaye

Albums * ''Things I Will Need in the Past'' (2008) * ''Animal Love'' (2012) * ''Hawaii: Part II'' (2012) EPs and Remix Compilations *''Charlene Kaye & The Brilliant Eyes EP'' (2012) * ''Animal Love // Remixes'' (2013) Singles *"Skin and Bones (ft.

)" (2008) * "Dress and Tie (ft. Darren Criss)" (2011) * "Animal Love I" (2012) * "Hummingbird Heart" (2012) * "Forever Is a Long Time" (2012) * "Animal Love II" (2013) * "Woman Up (Dave Scalia Remix) t. Kalae Nouveau (2013)

As KAYE

Albums * ''Conscious Control'' (2020) EPs * ''HONEY EP'' (2016) * ''Neon God EP'' (2022) Singles * "Honey" (2016) * "UUU" (2016) *"Parakeeter" (2016) * "Cheshire Kitten" (2017) *"Bamboo" (2017)

With San Fermin

Albums * ''Jackrabbit'' (2015) * ''Belong'' (2017) *''Live At The Fillmore'' (2019) Singles * "Jackrabbit" (2015) * "No Devil" (2015) * "Shiver" with

Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Musical career In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals. Amidon's first album of ...

(2016) * "Open" (2017) * "No Promises" (2017) * "Bride" (2017) * "Belong" (2017) * "Asleep on the Train" (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Charlene 1986 births Living people Musicians from Honolulu American pop keyboardists American pop guitarists American rock guitarists American rock keyboardists University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Writers from Honolulu 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from Hawaii 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers