Ray BLK
| Ray BLK | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rita Ekwere |
| Also known as | Ray Blizzy |
| Born | August 1993 (age 23) Nigeria |
| Origin | Catford, South London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Years active | 2015–present |
Rita Ekwere (born August 1993), better known under her stage name of Ray BLK, is a British singer and songwriter who was born in Nigeria, and grew up in Catford in London. She won the BBC's Sound Of 2017.
Ray BLK, whose real name is Rita Ekwere, was born in Nigeria and came to London when she was about four. She grew up in Catford. At the age of 13 she formed a music group with her school friend MNEK called "New Found Content". She studied for a degree in English literature at Brunel University, and her dissertation was on post-colonial Nigerian literature, focusing on the novels of Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie. She worked in an advertising agency to sustain her music career in its early days.
Her stage surname BLK stands for Building Living Knowing, which she describes as her three main values.
Ray released her first recordings while studying for her English degree. Her debut EP Havisham was released in 2015. Inspired by Miss Havisham's story in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, it told the tale of a girl who turns against men after having her heart broken. According to Ray "I felt like Miss Havisham was like a lot of women around me, who got their heart broken and turned cold and began to hate men." Ray releases music on her own label and has avoided signing a record deal in order to retain the rights to her music. In 2016 she self-released her debut mini album Durt, featuring collaborations with Stormzy, Wretch 32 and SG Lewis. Her single "My Hood" is a song about her home town of Catford. She wrote it at a time when she had just been robbed, and she felt like she just wanted to leave.
She was nominated for best newcomer at the 2016 MOBO Awards. On 6 January 2017, Ray was announced as the winner of the BBC's Sound Of 2017.
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