The 2024 Brit Awards could be summed up in one name: Raye. The 26-year-old R’n’B star swept the board at the British music industry’s annual celebration, breaking the record for the most Brits won at a ceremony with her haul of six awards, trumping previous joint recordholders Harry Styles, Adele and Blur.
Her success came only three years after she quit her record label, and just days after the ceremony, it was announced that her songs have been streamed five billion times since her debut album was released last year.
No one can believe how far Raye, real name Rachel Agatha Keen, has come – least of all the woman herself.
“I do feel like a new artist. I got to start again,” she told the crowd at
London’s O2 arena as she picked up her award for Best New Artist. “The artist I was three years ago would not believe what she’s seeing today. I’m my own boss now; I’m in control.” The star was born in South London to mum Sarah, who is of Ghanaian-Swiss heritage, and Yorkshire-born father Paul. She first made her mark aged eight at her local school in Croydon. “I was Rachel’s music teacher in 2011, when I first started teaching at Woodcote High School,” Darren Harrow tells hello!. “She would have been aged 13 and 14 at the time.
“It was clear she had a raw natural talent, with a determination to succeed. Her vocal abilities, even at that young age, were astounding – well beyond those of her peers. She was musically gifted in songwriting and performing.
“Rachel was friendly and popular in school. She was pleasant to everybody. She always demonstrated the highest values of integrity and tried her best. It’s fantastic to see the success she’s building – it’s clearly down to her hardworking attitude and determination.”
REBEL WITH A CAUSE
At 14, the singer left Woodcote to take a place at the Brit School, whose alumni include Adele, Jessie J and Leona Lewis, but quit after two years.
“It’s not in my nature to follow rules,” she has said. “I didn’t get on with them in school and I don’t understand why they exist in music.
“I love songs that don’t do what you expect them to. For me, it’s liberating to write something sonically different every time that doesn’t sound like anyone else. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
However, she enjoyed developing her love of music while attending church with her family each week.
“[Croydon is] very down to earth, very multicultural, very fun, really great. I grew up in the church.
That’s where I learnt how to sing and understand my love for music.”
Aged 17, she signed her firs
