Stacey Kent is a US jazz singer from South Orange, New Jersey, born in 1968. She works in jazz, bossa nova and vocal jazz, and is known for a career that begins in the late 1990s and develops through a series of studio albums, collections and collaborations.

Early life and education

Kent attends Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, then studies comparative literature at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. After graduating, she moves to England. While studying at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she meets tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, whom she later marries.

Recording career

Kent debuts in 1997 with Close Your Eyes. Her subsequent albums include The Tender Trap (1998), Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire (2000), Dreamsville (2001), Brazilian Sketches (2001), In Love Again: The Music of Richard Rodgers (2002), The Boy Next Door (2003), Breakfast On The Morning Tram (2007), Raconte-Moi... (2010), Hushabye Mountain (2011) and The Changing Lights (2013). She also releases compilation albums Collection (2001), Collection II (2003) and Collection III (2006), as well as a limited-edition box set edition of Breakfast on the Morning Tram.

Collaborations and notable credits

Kent appears on Tomlinson’s 2006 album The Lyric, which wins Album of the Year at the BBC Jazz Awards. Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro writes the liner notes for The Boy Next Door and co-writes four songs on Breakfast on the Morning Tram.

Awards and recognition

She receives the British Jazz Award in 2001 and the BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist in 2002. Breakfast on the Morning Tram is nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards.