Charlene Kaye (born September 12, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter, comedian and actor, most widely known for her solo work under the name KAYE, for her one-woman comedy show ''Tiger Daughter: Or, How I Brought My Immigrant Mother Ultimate Shame'', 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 (TV series), Glee'' (2010–2015) and received a Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Award and ...

. She released her second full-length album ''Animal Love'' in 2012. It reached #15 on the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

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, ...

'' and support from '' Glamour''.

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

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 magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

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

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Miracle Musical: Hawaii: Part II

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

Tally Hall Tally Hall (sometimes stylized as tallyhall) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002, and publicly active until the conclusion of their Good & Evil (album), ''Good & Evil'' tour in 2011. The band is ...

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''. Charlene Kaye at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2

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, "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.

Tiger Daughter

In 2023, Kaye premiered a one-woman show calle
Tiger Daughter: Or, How I Brought My Immigrant Mother Ultimate Shame
at Ars Nova in New York City. The show received initial acclaim, wit
Joysauce
saying it "successfully flips the familiar Tiger Mother trope on its head" an
The Michigan Daily
calling it "a relatable, raw portrayal of mother-daughter relationships." She will perform the show at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Personal life

Kaye was born in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. She grew up outside

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, also living for a time in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, saxophone and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

. Kaye attended the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

as an English major, 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. Early life Amidon's parents are folk artists Peter Amidon and Mary Alice Amidon. They were members of Bread and Puppet Theater in the 1970s ...

(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