Zack Knight (born 22 November 1991) is a

British-Pakistani British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in ...

singer-songwriter. Formerly known by the stage name, Zeekay (before 2011), Knight is well-known for hit songs including

Bom Diggy Bom Diggy is a song by British singers Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia. It was released on 24 August 2017 through the Artist Originals subsidiary of Saavn Music and YouTube. The main verses are sung in Punjabi and English, while the sampled chor ...

, Galtiyan, Nakhre and Enemy, the former appearing on a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

comedy.

Life and career

Knight was born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, to a Pakistani-Punjabi mother and an Afro-Asian father. He moved to Haywards Heath in 1999, studying at Oathall Community College, and was present during the visit to the school by the then-Prince Charles. He uses influences from both his heritage and upbringing in his music, which he describes as R&B infused style with a crossover sound, peppered with

and Middle-Eastern influences. Knight cites

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

and Usher as the main inspirations behind his music. He also produces, composes and engineers his own music. Knight is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

artist, chaining together lyrics in English,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Punjabi, as well as elements of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

2007–10: The Zeekay Years

Operating under the stage name 'Zeekay'/'Zee Kay Knight began his career primarily as a songwriter, writing songs for artists such as

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

Ginuwine Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (born October 15, 1970), better known by his stage name Ginuwine, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He began his career as a member of Swing Mob in the early 1990s. Signing to Epic R ...

Stylo G Jason McDermott (born 15 September 1985 in Spanish Town, Jamaica), better known by his stage name Stylo G, is a British-Jamaican dancehall recording artist known for his three hit singles "My Yout", "Call Mi a Leader" and " Soundbwoy". "Soundbwo ...

IYAZ Keidran Jones (born 15 April 1987), better known by his stage name Iyaz, is a British Virgin Islands singer and songwriter, formerly signed with the record label Beluga Heights Records. He is known for his singles " Replay", "Solo" and " Pretty ...

and various

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

contestants. His first major success was with writing the hit single "Baby (Dil Deewana)", for US R&B artist

, released in 2007. Shortly after, he started producing several R&B/Hip-hop singles himself; his debut single My Moment(Produced by Pcru, Flipnotez), released in 2008, reaching third in the Myspace R&B charts, which consequently led to him landing a production deal with "Mr Skills, creator of Big Brova's, with whom he had been working on his debut album. From here, Knight produced several other singles across the span of 2 years, including "In Denial (which he performed at various Live shows), Love U Right ft

, Save It and Inspiration. Knight supported the likes of

Taio Cruz Jacob Taio Cruz (; born Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere, 23 April 1980), better known professionally as Taio Cruz (stylized TΛIO CRUZ), is an English singer, songwriter and record producer from London, England, currently based in Los Angeles. In 200 ...

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

and

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

in live concerts and shows. Simultaneously, he was studying for a Degree in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

, which he had to put on hold in order to concentrate on his musical aspirations. He eventually graduated; however, after 2010, he had to re-brand his music from under his stage name/alias, Zeekay, to under his real name, Zack Knight, as he is still known by now.

2011–14: Re-branding, Covers and Albums

After 2010, Knight, now operating without his stage name/alias, produced several singles and albums. As a result of the re-branding, he was now working with new artists and producers, therefore his style of music changed, with a less of a focus on hip-hop mainstream music to more of a pop music sound. He received regional and national support from his debut single "All Over Again" in 2012, and his second single "Who I Am" was also featured as one of

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

"New & Noteworthy" picks of the month, which was followed by his third single "When I'm Gone". (although these three singles later become incorporated into his 2016-released album ''On Repeat''). He was also active in producing his own covers, as well as remixes of popular songs, on his YouTube channel. As well as this, he produced two albums: "Poison In My Sleep" (2014) and "On Repeat" (released 2016, although the songs dated back to 2011-12).

2014–present

In 2014, Knight signed a deal with T-Series which propelled him to fame both in the UK Asian industry as well as in the Indian subcontinent. Under this record label, he produced several popular singles, including hits like "Dheere", "Nakhre", "Enemy", "Looking For Love", and "Tere Naam", most of which topped the BBC Asian Network Charts. He collaborated with various high-profile artists within the BBC Asian Network Industry, including the likes of

Raxstar Raxstar (born 21 November 1983) is British rapper from Luton. Raxstar came into popularity after the release of "Keep It Undercover" in 2005. Following up with tracks like "Jaaneman", "Ego", "Poison" and "Balwant", he gained more mainstream atte ...

and

Jasmin Walia Jasmin Walia is a British singer and television personality of Indian descent; she has released songs in English, Punjabi and Hindi. In 2017, her single "Bom Diggy" with Zack Knight peaked at number one on the BBC Asian Network's Official Asian M ...

amongst others. He has also collaborated with artists outside the United Kingdom, such as rapper Badshah, playback singer Mohammad Irfan, and American YouTube personality

Adam Saleh Adam Mohsin Yehya Saleh (Arabic: ادم محمد يحيى صالح ; born June 4, 1993) is an American YouTuber. Early life Adam Saleh was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 4, 1993, to Yemeni parents. He went to Manhattan Center For Sc ...

. After being appointed BBC Music Ambassador in 2017, he successfully sold out both of his own UK headline tours in the following year. During this period, Knight also wrote and produced "

", featuring

, amassing over 1.1 billion views on YouTube (as of April 2021). This track also appeared in the Bollywood comedy

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety ''Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety'' () is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed and written by Luv Ranjan whose banner Luv Films co-produced it along with T-Series. The film was jointly distributed by T-Series, Amazon Prime Video and AA Fil ...

(2018), albeit it being a re-make. This was accompanied by 2 Top 5 peaking singles in the UK R&B iTunes charts ("Ya Baba", "Tears"), 1 Top 10 UK Dance iTunes chart ("Love Controller"), three Consecutive Number ones on the BBC Asian Network Download Chart ("Nakhre", "Lamhe", "Enemy"), and 10 top five singles in the World/Asian Charts. He continues to create remixes, mashups and medleys. His remixes typically follow the style of compiling several Bollywood songs and mixing them with English R&B fusion, or making acoustic-type covers and remixes of popular songs or his own songs. On 28 February 2021, Knight released a new song named "Para Rum Pa", in collaboration with Jernade Miah and Kayes Rashid, on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, reaching over 200k+ views on its release day, and over 1M views within 2 weeks. On 14 October 2021, Knight released a 3-track album titled 'Dear Dad', in memory of his beloved father, who died in August of 2021. He is currently working on another album, which is due to be released in December of 2021.

Discography

Singles

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Zack English male singers English songwriters English people of Pakistani descent English people of Punjabi descent Living people People from Grimsby Punjabi-language singers 1991 births 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers Urdu-language singers British male songwriters