Jay Q

Jeff Tennyson Quaye, known as Jay Q, is a Ghanaian record producer, sound engineer, songwriter and keyboardist from Osu, Accra. He founded Q-Lex Entertainment and the Jay-Qlex Recording Studio, and is credited with bringing the jama, or kpanlogo, rhythm into hiplife.

Early life

He was born and raised in Accra, the son of Jeff Tennyson Quaye Snr and Comfort Adjin-Tettey. His church, Emmanuel Assemblies of God, paid for his keyboard lessons at the Oriental School of Music in Adabraka. Through Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries he met Fred Kyei Mensah of Fredyma Studio, who taught him music programming and introduced him to recording.

Career

His productions began getting radio play in the mid to late 1990s. Working at the Combined House of Music, he recorded highlife acts such as Alhaji K. Frimpong, Obuoba J.A. Adofo and Pat Thomas, gospel artists, cultural bands such as Wulomei, and early hiplife acts including Buk Bak and VIP.

After moving to the digital Virtual Sound Lab in 2000, he fused hiplife with jama and kpanlogo percussion on Buk Bak's I'm Going to Come. The sound drew criticism at first but spread quickly as other producers took it up. He moved to Hush Hush Studio in 2002, and in 2003 he won Sound Engineer of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards. He has produced for or managed Castro, Mzbel, Obrafour, Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong, Ofori Amponsah and Akosua Agyapong.