12 Facts About Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright.

At the age of 16, Tempest was accepted into the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon.

Kae Tempest grew up in Brockley, South East London, one of five children whose father was a corporate media lawyer, and their mother a teacher.

Kae Tempest first performed at 16, at open mic nights at Deal Real, a small hip-hop store in Carnaby Street in London's West End.

Kae Tempest toured internationally with their band Sound of Rum until the band disbanded in 2012 before being commissioned to write their first play, Wasted.

In 2013, Kae Tempest released their first poetry book Everything Speaks in its Own Way, a limited edition run on their own imprint, Zingaro.

Some of Kae Tempest's influences include Christopher Logue, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, W B Yeats, William Blake, W H Auden and Wu-Tang Clan.

Since the release of Everybody Down, Kae Tempest has increased touring as a musician, playing at festivals and headlining shows with their live band which consists of Kwake Bass on drums, Dan Carey on synths and Clare Uchima on keyboards.

The collection was a commercial and critical success and its release coincided with Kae Tempest being named a Next Generation Poet.

Kae Tempest was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2015.

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Kae Tempest signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.

Kae Tempest has received wide critical acclaim for their written and live work.