Sunjay

Early life

Sunjay Edward Brain was born on 23 September 1993 in Derby, Derbyshire, 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. Growing up, Sunjay spent most of his time singing and playing guitar.

Sunjay attended Pedmore C of E Primary School and later The Royal Wolverhampton School, where he won a music scholarship. Sunjay credits the school with nurturing his talent. After completing his GCSEs (and gaining 10 A-C passes) Sunjay attended Hagley Roman Catholic High School, 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 to study music at Kidderminster College. 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 in which the reviewer, Martin Chilton, praised his "fluent and intricate guitar".

Awards and recognition

Sunjay was a Young Folk Award finalist in the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

At the 2012 Wath Festival he won the Young Performers Award. Later that year Sunjay was also a winner at the New Roots Competition in St. Albans.

In 2013 he supported folk-rock band Steeleye Span on several of their winter UK tour dates.

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

At the 2014 British Blues Awards he was nominated in the Young Artist category.

Personal life

Sunjay lives in Stourbridge, West Midlands. He hosts and organizes the Stourbridge Folk Club once a month at Katie Fitzgerald's pub in Stourbridge.