Sunjay Edward Brain (born 23 September 1993) is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England.

Early life

Sunjay Edward Brain was born on 23 September 1993 in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, the son of an English father, Roger Brain (born 17 September 1945), and an Indian mother, Mamta Sekhri. He began singing and playing guitar at age four after watching a TV programme entitled ''The Day The Music Died'', a documentary detailing the brief but eventful career of

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

. Growing up, Sunjay spent most of his time singing and playing guitar. Sunjay attended Pedmore

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Primary School and later The Royal School, Wolverhampton, where he won a music scholarship. Sunjay credits the school with nurturing his talent. After completing his

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

s (and gaining 10 A-C passes) Sunjay attended

Hagley Roman Catholic High School Hagley Catholic High School is a coeducational school for ages 11–18 situated in the village of Hagley, Worcestershire, England. Currently a member of the Catholic Emmaus trust of schools, it was founded by the Catholic community in Worcester ...

, where he spent a year studying AS levels. As music became more of a focus for him, schoolwork declined and he left the

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

to study music at

Kidderminster College Kidderminster College is a post 16 Comprehensive College in Kidderminster, England providing full and part-time adult education. The College offers courses which specialise in hairdressing, engineering, creative industries, business administrati ...

. Sunjay passed the Rockschool RSL Level 4 Music Diploma with Distinction, receiving 100%, aged 18.

Professional career

A local paper misprinted his surname as "Brayne", leading to Sunjay adopting the surname at the start of his career. To prevent the confusion of reverting to his real surname, he dropped his surname in 2013. His album, ''Seems So Real'', and his single "The Fire Down Below" were originally released under the name Sunjay Brayne, before being re-released under the name Sunjay. His third album, the eponymous ''Sunjay'', received a three-starred review in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' in which the reviewer, Martin Chilton, praised his "fluent and intricate guitar".

Awards and recognition

Sunjay was a finalist in the 2012

BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Brighde C ...

. At the 2012 Wath Festival he won the Young Performers Award, chosen by judges Lucy Ward (musician), Dave Eyre (folk music broadcaster), Tom Sweeney (RootBeat Records) and competition founder, Charlie Barker. Later that year Sunjay was also a winner at the New Roots Competition in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

. In 2014 he was nominated three times at the Exposure Music Awards. At the 2014

British Blues Awards The British Blues Awards were inaugurated in 2010. The prize was awarded in various categories, such as 'Male vocals', 'Female vocals', 'Guitarist', 'Bass player' and 'Keyboard player', 'Blues band', 'Young artist', 'Blues album', 'Blues festival' a ...

he was nominated in the Young Artist category. In 2012 he supported

Wizz Jones Raymond Ronald Jones (born 25 April 1939), better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England and has been performing since the late 1950s and sound recording an ...

and

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

on several of their joint UK tour dates. Following this he supported folk-rock band

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

on several of their 2013 winter UK tour dates. Sunjay was tour support for

Kathryn Roberts Kathryn Roberts is an English folk singer, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Early career Roberts' first released recordings were on the album ''Intuition'', a collection of songs by various South Yorkshire folk artists which also included her ...

Sean Lakeman Sean Lakeman (born 29 January 1974) is an English folk musician and record producer. Early life Sean was born and brought up as the first of three boys in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon with his brothers, fellow folk musicians Seth ...

on their "Persoane" spring tour in 2018. Other notable Artist's Sunjay has supported include: Mud Morganfield,

Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also mai ...

, Chris Smither,

Ian Siegal Ian Siegal (born 1971) is a British blues singer and guitarist. Biography Ian Siegal is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader and recording artist whose music encompasses Blues and Americana. Born near Portsmouth in England, he dropped ...

Curved Air Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fus ...

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

Phil Beer Phil Beer (born 12 May 1953 in Exminster, Devon, England) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and one half of English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Biography Beer first began to play fiddle, guitar, and mandolin whilst ...

Spiers & Boden Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box. Spiers and Boden were founding members of the folk band Bellow ...

Graham Gouldman Graham Keith Gouldman (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc ...

, John Illsey,

Terry Reid Terrance James Reid (born 13 November 1949) is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high-profile musicians, as a supporting act, session musician, and sideman. Biography Reid was born in Paxton Park Maternity Home, L ...

Passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

Discography

Personal life

Sunjay lives in

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, 2.5 miles south of Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a heavily industrialised area, it has a popu ...

, West Midlands. Between 2013 and 2017 Sunjay hosted and organised the Stourbridge Folk Club once a month at Katie Fitzgerald's pub in Stourbridge. Guest artists Sunjay hosted at the club included Chris Smither,

Vin Garbutt Vincent Paul Garbutt (20 November 1947 – 6 June 2017) was an English folk singer and songwriter. A significant part of his repertoire consisted of protest songs covering topics such as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland (''Welcome Home How ...

, Dan Owen, Gilmore Roberts,

Martyn Joseph Martyn Joseph (born 15 July 1960) is a Welsh singer-songwriter whose music exhibits primarily a brand of Celtic and folk, while his songwriting is often focused on social lament or protest. From independently releasing his first studio release, ...

Matt Andersen Matt Andersen is a Canadian blues guitarist and singer-songwriter from Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, signed to True North Records. He is a Juno Awards, Juno Award nominee. His musical career started in 2002 with the New Brunswick band Flat Top. C ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1993 births Living people 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers English folk guitarists English folk singers English male guitarists English male singer-songwriters English people of Indian descent Musicians from Derby