Jay Nemor

Jay Nemor (born Jason Nemor Harden) is a singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist and actor. He began his musical journey at the age of nine on the electric bass in his hometown of Houston, TX. His bass being stolen after only a short while, by age 11 he turned his attention to the alto saxophone and played until the age of 14 in various stage and concert bands as well as solo performances. Once again, misfortune struck as his horn was unfortunately stolen during his freshman year in high school triggering the burial of his passion for the saxophone and music.

His earliest and most impressive encounter with music as a child was at the age of six. Along with his parents he attended his first live concert performance to see the legendary 'Earth, Wind & Fire'. Jay recalls, "The thing I remember most is seeing Verdine White suspended sideways in midair playing the bass and I remember saying to my mother: 'I want to do that'." Some of his greatest influences include of course the aforementioned EWF, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, The Ojay's, Bill Withers and Teddy Pendergrass just to highlight a few. Most recently he credits his rekindled passion for music to artists such Jill Scott, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Gil Scott Heron his introduction to the traditional sound of jazz while living in Iceland, and a band of individuals from Iceland calling themselves Jagúar.

A career in basketball first led led Jay to Iceland in the spring of 1998. He bounced around Europe and the middle east briefly finally setting his base in Iceland in early 2002. He attributes the amount of spare time one has during the day as a professional basketball player in Europe as a huge factor in his reconnecting with the saxophone after a 15-year absence. While visiting home in Houston in the summer of 1999, between basketball seasons in Iceland, he purchased a stack of music books and
took the time to re-teach or rather dust off his saxophone playing skills once returning to Iceland.

Fast forward to 2003, a friend and member of the aforementioned Jagúar, Dadi Birgisson, encouraged him to try-out for a Motown-tribute to be staged locally in Iceland not as a saxophonist, but as a vocalist. It was during this Motown Revue that Jay Nemor rediscovered his passion for music. He recalls sitting in a club in downtown Reykjavik after a performance and while listening to old soul and R&B music, one friend and revue colleague posed the question, "Why don't they make music like this anymore?" At that moment, the wheels in Jay's mind began to turn and he decided he wanted to rediscover the essence of the old school sound; however, with a modern flavor.
A few days later he borrowed a Casio keyboard from his songwriting partner, Kenya Emil, purchased yet more books, and began learning chord structures and how to arrange them to form a song. Eventually,...