Kei Kobayashi

Kei Kobayashi (born May 9, 1979) is a Japanese male jazz vocalist. He is from Tokyo.

Born as the second son of a family whose grandfather is Kazunori Murakami (jazz steel guitar player), father Hiroshi Kobayashi (jazz pianist and arranger), and mother Kyoko Murakami (jazz vocalist), he grew up in an environment where he was familiar with jazz from an early age.

He was inspired by a musical he saw at an amusement park when he was three years old, and then became obsessed with a stage play based on Duke Ellington's music, and at the age of five he declared that he would one day be on the musical stage. It is said that

After gaining numerous stage experiences in classical ballet from the age of 5, he became a hot topic in the dance world other than jazz, starring in a musical at the age of 12. By the time he was 15 years old, he was active as a jazz vocalist and jazz drummer at live houses in Tokyo, and was attracting attention among jazz players.

At the age of 16, he performed at a charity concert for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake with Herbie Hancock and other top artists from around the world. At the age of 17, his first mini-album "Let's Take the K Train ~17-Year-Old Jazz" (Unicom) was released.