Who is Jay Nemor
Singer, songwriter, producer, instrumentalist and actor Jay Nemor (Jason Nemor Harden) 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 eight. 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, he developed a few ideas and shortly thereafter, in the fall of 2004, he and Kenya Emil teamed up to form Kenya Nemor, which eventually became Kenya & Nemor.
Jay Nemor has since worked on various projects as a session musician (vocals, keyboards, saxophone), as well as a producer and / or songwriter with a variety of artists ranging from hip hop, R&B, soul, house, electronic, rock, pop, alternative, jazz, blues and world music.
Two distinct events happened for Jay in 2013. First, he decided to pursue a solo release and secondly he found himself on the theatre stage with a local Oslo, Norway theatre company called Nordic Black Theatre. As a solo artist, Jay released his debut self produced album in December 2014 and several singles through 2018. His solo efforts caught the attention of Italy based Tesla Groove International Recordings whom he signed with as their first recording artist in 2018. Under the Tesla Groove label the Jay Nemor Electrified: Alive album was released in August 2021.
Concerning the theatre, Jay has landed roles ranging from musician, narrator, actor and playwright. During his brief life in theatre, Jay has been commissioned by Nordic Black Theatre to write three theatre pieces about Paul Robeson (2014), Gil Scott Heron (2018) and Martin Luther King Jr. (2019). In addition to writing the pieces, Jay was also given the formidable task of performing the role of the title character in each production. Ol’ Man River: The Life, Times and Music of Paul Robeson was restaged an additional two seasons (2015 & 2016), Pieces of a Man: The Words and Music of Gil Scott Heron was restaged in October 2020 and After The Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. was restaged in September 2021 at Den Norske Opera og Ballet.
Plunging his way into several artistic endeavors, Jay Nemor is pressing forward in his quest to carve out a space for himself in the world of arts and entertainment.