Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest) is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright. 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. Tempest worked in a record shop from age 14 to 18. They went to Thomas Tallis School, leaving at 16 to study at the Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, going on to graduate in English Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London. 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. They went on to support acts such as John Cooper Clarke, Billy Bragg and Benjamin Zephaniah. 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, Tempest released their first poetry book Everything Speaks in its Own Way, a limited edition run on their own imprint, Zingaro. At 26, they launched the theatrical spoken word piece Brand New Ancients at the Battersea Arts Centre (2012), to great critical acclaim. The piece also won Tempest the Herald Angel and The Ted Hughes Prize. Some of Tempest’s influences include Christopher Logue (their “favourite poet”), Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, W H Auden and Wu-Tang Clan. In September 2013, their play Hopelessly Devoted was produced by Paines Plough and premiered at Birmingham Rep Theatre.
In 2014, they released the album Everybody Down, which was produced by Dan Carey and was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize. Since the release of Everybody Down, 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. In October 2014, their first poetry collection for Picador, Hold Your Own, was published. The collection was a commercial and critical success and its release coincided with Tempest being named a Next Generation Poet. Tempest was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2015.
In April 2016, their debut novel The Bricks That Built The Houses was published by Bloomsbury and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. It won the Books Are My Bag Best Breakthrough Author Award. In September 2016, it was announced that Tempest would curate the 2017 Brighton Festival. They released the album Let Them Eat Chaos in October 2016. It debuted at no. 28 on the UK Albums Chart, and was also released in book format (Picador). The album was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, this time in 2017. They were nominated for Best British Female Solo Performer at the 2018 Brit Awards. Tempest’s song “People’s Faces” was used for the Facebook commercial “We’re Never Lost If We Can Find Each Other”, created by the agency Droga5, and released in April 2020. Tempest came out as non-binary in 2020, using pronouns they/them.
In November 2019, along with other public figures, 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. In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, they signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that “Labour’s election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few.”
