Jamie Seerman is an American singer-songwriter from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She performs under the name Jaymay.

Early life

Jaymay was born Jamie Seerman on January 3, 1981, and was raised on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. For undergrad, she studied at

New College of Florida New College of Florida is a public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded in 1960 as a private institution known simply as New College, spent several years merged into the University of South Florida, and in 2001 became an aut ...

, Columbia University and

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

in New York City, as well as Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy. After graduating from New College in 2003, she moved to NYC, where she began regularly performing at the Sidewalk Cafe’s Open Mic every Monday night.

Career

Jaymay has played live concerts supporting Bright Eyes, Bon Iver, Beirut, Teddy Thompson,

A.A. Bondy Auguste Arthur Bondy, also known as Scott Bondy and A. A. Bondy, is an American alternative folk artist from Birmingham, Alabama. Early life Bondy was born and raised in Mountain Brook, Alabama where he attended Mountain Brook High School. Ca ...

, Deer Tick, Isobel Campbell &

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the St ...

, Jose Gonzales, Okkervil River,

Kevin Devine Kevin Devine (born December 19, 1979) is an American songwriter and musician from Staten Island, New York City, who is known for his introspective and political themes. He is a contemporary member of the underground indie rock and indie folk m ...

Hayden Hayden may refer to: Places Inhabited places in the United States *Hayden, Alabama *Hayden, Arizona *Hayden's Ferry, former name of Tempe, Arizona *Hayden, California, former name of Hayden Hill, California *Hayden, Colorado *Hayden, Idaho *Hayden ...

Tift Merritt Tift may refer to: Places * Tift County, Georgia, a county in south-central Georgia, United States People with the given name * Tift Merritt (born 1975), American singer-songwriter People with the surname * Andrew Tift (born 1968), British portr ...

, Cherry Ghost,

Caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

Elvis Perkins Elvis Brooke Perkins (born February 9, 1976) is an American folk-rock musician. He released his debut studio album, '' Ash Wednesday'', in 2007. He subsequently toured in support of the album with his band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, composed o ...

, Nouvelle Vague,

The Bird and the Bee The Bird and the Bee (stylized in all lowercase) is an American indie pop musical duo from Los Angeles, consisting of Inara George ("the bird") and Greg Kurstin ("the bee"). Kurstin is a seven-time Grammy Award–winning producer and multi- ...

, Jens Lekman, Goldfrapp, and others, and has played festivals such as Glastonbury, Latitude, Edinburgh Fringe, Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Hillside and more. The song "Sea Green, See Blue" was featured in the Season 2 finale of CBS's ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'', which aired May 14, 2007. Jaymay wrote and provided songs and the score to the 2010 film, '' Happythankyoumoreplease'', at the insistence of writer/director/star, Josh Radnor, a longtime fan of Jaymay. "Never Be Daunted" from the film was shortlisted for the

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

' Best Original Song Academy Award. Jaymay provided vocals for the cover of the Kinks' " Big Sky" on ''Orchestral Variations V.01'' by The Separate, which was the final album released by Setanta Records in 2012. In November 2013, Jaymay flew to Keithville, Louisiana to play at the bedside of Lexi Gordon, a 2-year old fan diagnosed with the terminal neurological disease Tay–Sachs disease, after the family made the wish to Pay It Forward Networking to reach out to Lexi's favorite performer. The live version of "You Are The Only One I Love" from the

Lvng Rm EP Jamie Seerman is an American singer-songwriter from New York. She performs under the name Jaymay. Early life Jaymay was born Jamie Seerman on January 3, 1981, and was raised on Long Island. For undergrad, she studied at New College of Florida, ...

was featured in Facebook's national Mother's Day TV and internet commercial in 2014 and 2015 in the United States. In August 2014, a musical based on the album ''

Autumn Fallin' ''Autumn Fallin is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Jaymay. It was released by Heavenly Recordings in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2007 and by Blue Note Records in the United States on March 11, 2008. The track "Sea Green, Se ...

'' was produced at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

by Anton Benson Productions. Jaymay's cover recordings of "

A Tombstone Every Mile "A Tombstone Every Mile" is a song written by Dan Fulkerson and recorded by American country music artist Dick Curless. It was released in January 1965 as the lead single from the album of the same name. The song stayed at number five for two weeks ...

" and "

Dream A Little Dream Of Me "Dream a Little Dream of Me" is a 1931 song with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill. ...

" were featured in the 2014 film, ''

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

's A Good Marriage''. Jaymay has made television appearances performing on " Late Night with Conan O'Brien", " The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and "Colour Room" in 2008, and "Good Morning" in Romania in 2014. In 2015, Jaymay's song, "If You Take My Window", was recorded by musician & activist, Wynn Walent, and released as part of an album to raise money for the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti. Jaymay's original recording of the song appears on her ''1 & !'' EP. She has been described by the BBC as being the "darling of the New York '

Anti-Folk Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

' scene", and by '' the New York Times'' as a "big name...for the indie universe"''. On June 1, 2016, Jaymay announced online that she would be releasing a new album, '' To Tell The Truth'', in conjunction with a PledgeMusic campaign. In 2021, Jaymay was reported to be appearing on the podcast ''

Storybound ''Storybound'' is a podcast created, produced, and hosted by Jude Brewer, with original music composed for each episode. The show is a collaboration between ''Lit Hub'' and The Podglomerate podcast network, featuring household names and Pulitze ...

''.

Collaborations

Jaymay has collaborated with

on the songs "Brother's Blood", "Time to Burn" and "Murphy's Song", with Cheyenne on "Write It Down in Red", and with

Dirty on Purpose Dirty on Purpose were an American band from Brooklyn, New York, whose music was often described as indie pop or shoegaze. History Formed in 2002, they were originally composed of Doug Marvin (drums, vocals), Joseph Jurewicz (guitar, vocals), Geor ...

on "Light Pollution" and "Like Bees". Jaymay provided guest vocals on art-metal band Goes Cube's second full-length studio album, ''In Tides And Drifts''. She is also featured on the My Cousin, The Emperor's songs "Burly, Old Couch" and "Somedays" from ''The Subway EPs, Vol. I: Prospect Park West'', released March 29, 2011. Jaymay collaborated with

K'Naan Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 1 February 1978) ( so, Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, ar, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ ''Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama''), better known by his stage name K'naan (), is a Somali-Canadian musician. He rose to prominence ...

and was a vocalist on his 2012 EP, ''

More Beautiful Than Silence ''More Beautiful Than Silence'' is an EP by Canadian rapper K'naan, released on January 31, 2012.

.''

Discography

Albums

*2007: ''

'' *2016: '' To Tell The Truth'' *2016: ''

Fallin' Like Snow ''Fallin' Like Snow'' is the third full-length album by Jaymay, consisting of thirteen Christmas and other winter-themed original compositions and covers. These recordings, together with thirteen others recorded during the same sessions, were orig ...

EPs EPS, EPs or Eps may refer to: Commerce and finance * Earnings per share * Electronic Payment Services, in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen, China * Express Payment System, in the Philippines Education * Edmonton Public Schools, in Edmonton, Al ...

*2006: ''Sea Green, See Blue.'' *2010: ''

'' *2010: '' Long Walk to Never'' *2012: '' 10UNDER2'' *2016: ''1 & !'' *2016: ''Song For Paul'' *2016: ''Demon Love'' *2016: ''Not Your Fault'' *2016: ''Evil People'' *2016: ''Over My Head'' *2016: ''Orange Peels''

Compilation appearances

*2014: "You Are The Only One I Love (piano demo)", ''Friends'' (Fadeaway Records) *2015: "Pretty Girls Make Graves", ''Tease Torment Tantalize: A 30th Anniversary Tribute to the Smiths' Debut'' (Reimagine Music)

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Living people American expatriates in the United Kingdom Heavenly Recordings artists 1981 births Musicians from New York City