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Ricky Kej

Ricky Kej
Ricky Kej with his three Grammy Awards
Ricky Kej with his three Grammy Awards
Background information
Birth nameRam Gyan Kej
Born (1981-08-05) 5 August 1981 (age 43)
North Carolina, United States
OccupationsMusic Composer, Songwriter, Record Producer
Years active2000–present
Websiterickykej.com

Ram Gyan "Ricky" Kej (born 5 August 1981) is an Indian-American music composer and environmentalist and a three-time Grammy Award winner.[1] He has performed at venues in over 35 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva.[2] In October 2023, Kej was announced as a UN "Goodwill Ambassador" (UNCCD) at the United Nations General Assembly by then President, Csaba Körösi .[1]

Kej was also named a UNCCD Land Ambassador[3] at the COP14 to raise public awareness about the challenges of land degradation, desertification and drought. Kej serves as a "High-Profile Supporter" of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNESCO - MGIEP "Global Ambassador for Kindness",[4] UNICEF Celebrity Supporter,[5] and is an ambassador for the Earth Day Network.[6] In 2020, Kej was named as a GQ Hero 2020 by GQ magazine[7] and in 2023, Kej was declared as GQ "Man of the Year".

In 2015, he won a Grammy at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for his album "Winds of Samsara" in the Best New Age Album category.[8] The project, his 14th studio album, debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard New Age Albums Chart in August 2014,[9][10] a first for a person of Indian origin.[11] The album also peaked at No. 1 on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart in the month of July 2014.[12]

In 2022, Ricky Kej won his second Grammy at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards for his album "Divine Tides" in collaboration with Rock & Roll legend Stewart Copeland in the Best New Age Album category. This album was critically acclaimed by numerous news agencies such as Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, The Sunday Guardian, India Today among others.

In 2023, Ricky Kej won his third Grammy for his album "Divine Tides" at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in the Best Immersive Audio Album category, which took place in Los Angeles in February.[13]

Kej also performed keyboards on the 2016 Grammy-winning album Grace, produced and composed a song on the 2016 Grammy-nominated album Love Language and arranged and performed keyboards on the 2015 Grammy-nominated album Ayahuasca Dreams. His album Shanti Samsara – World Music for Environmental Consciousness was launched on 30 November 2015 at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French president, Francois Hollande.[14] In the months since its launch, Kej has traveled widely speaking about conservation and the environment, including a visit to the Republic of Kiribati, where he interviewed and created music with three-term ex-president, Anote Tong.[15] Kej is credited with over 3,500 placements for radio and television jingles.[16] He composed the music for the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony, held at Dhaka on 17 February 2011.[17] On 18 July 2016, he was awarded the Excellence and Leadership award as a global humanitarian artist at the United Nations Headquarters, New York and performed excerpts from Shanti Samsara live in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Kej concluded his performance at the United Nations General Assembly by saying, "To end, I want to state the obvious ... Climate change is real ... Climate change is human induced. Climate change is affecting us all ... and our actions affect countries on the other side of the world."[18][19]

In 2018, Kej was named in the "Real Leaders 100 List". Real Leaders (a signatory to the United Nations) curates this list of leaders who 'Inspire the Future'.[20] He was the only representative from India. In May 2018, Kej was honoured by the House of Commons of Canada for "Outstanding Musical and Humanitarian Achievement".[21] In his endeavour to familiarise children with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he created My Earth Songs – 27 children's rhymes based on the 17 SDGs. These songs launched by UNICEF are published in over five million textbooks (English, Hindi and Kannada languages).[22]

Kej's life and journey as a musician are now taught to 7th-grade children in India as part of the ICSE syllabus English textbooks.[23] Kej is notably also a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (at the Indian Institute of Science).[24]

  1. ^ a b "Ricky Kej". GRAMMY.com. 23 November 2020. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  2. ^ "WHO | First WHO Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, 30 October – 1 November 2018". WHO. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  3. ^ "UNCCD Land Ambassadors | UNCCD". www.unccd.int. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Grammy Award winning musician and SDG champion Ricky Kej lends voice to #KindnessMatters". UNESCO MGIEP. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Grammy winner Ricky Kej appointed UNICEF supporter for Telugu states". thenewsminute.com. 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. ^ "RENOWNED CONSERVATIONIST & GRAMMY ® AWARD WINNER RICKY KEJ BECOMES "AMBASSADOR OF EARTH DAY NETWORK, INDIA"". Earth Day. 13 March 2018. Archived from the original on 14 October 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  7. ^ "GQ Heroes: Ricky Kej". GQ India. 19 October 2020. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  8. ^ "57th Annual Grammy Award Nominees". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  9. ^ "New Age Albums Charts". Billboard. August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  10. ^ Rodricks, Allan Moses (July 2014). "Rocking The Kej". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  11. ^ D G, Supriya (18 August 2014). "Topping Charts the Kej Way". NRI Pulse. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  12. ^ "Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart". ZoneMusicReporter. July 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  13. ^ admin (6 February 2023). "Ricky Kej, Indian Music composer based out of Bengaluru, has won his third Grammy Award for the album 'Divine Tides'". Mamaraazzi. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  14. ^ "Narendra Modi & Francois Hollande launch Ricky Kej's music album in Paris". The Economic Times. 1 December 2015. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Grammy Awardee Ricky Kej Visits Kiribati Archipelago". The Times of India. 5 June 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  16. ^ Pareek, Pareek (10 February 2015). "Bangaluru Based Musician Ricky Kej Brings Home A Grammy". TheBetterIndia. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  17. ^ Parsons, Kathy. "Ricky Kej". MainlyPiano. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  18. ^ "Ricky Kej performs at UN, bags excellence and leadership award". The Times of India. 18 July 2016. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  19. ^ "Novus Summit- United Nations". The Times of India. 2016. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  20. ^ gomes, suruchi kapur (25 February 2018). "Samsara's real leader". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  21. ^ IANS (1 May 2018). "Grammy winner Ricky Kej honoured in Canada". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  22. ^ "Why Ricky Kej's Earth Songs are going to be in 1 million textbooks in 2019". The New Indian Express. 19 August 2018. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  23. ^ "Launch of New CISCE Series by Macmillan Education India | Macmillan Education India". www.macmillanindia.com. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  24. ^ "20". NIAS.RES.IN. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
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