Black British Sensation Hits A Big Dip In The Road
Jason Rae, a 31-year-old saxophonist with the Haggis Horns, was discovered at a flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds on Saturday by police called to the scene. The husband of R&B soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae was apparently found dead of a suspected overdose.
West Yorkshire Police said that a 32-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs. He was later released on bail pending further inquiries.
A postmortem examination was performed on Saturday night but the results were inconclusive and the police are waiting for the results of toxicology tests, a police spokesman said.
The Haggis Horns had been due to play at the HiFi Club in Leeds last night. The club confirmed that the concert had been cancelled. Neither Bailey Rae nor her record company EMI was available for comment.
Corinne Bailey Rae, 29, has always insisted that she has never taken drugs. Earlier this year she backed a project for young people who were asked to use their song-writing abilities to help in the war against drugs.
At the time she said: “Helping to raise awareness among teenagers about the danger of drugs is vital, and combining this with the chance to showcase local song-writing talent is a great idea. The impact of drugs in our local communities cannot be underestimated.”
Born in Leeds, the singer studied English literature at Leeds University. She met her future husband while working as a cloakroom attendant at a soul club in the city and they married in 2001 when she was 22.
Bailey Rae’s breakthrough came in 2004 when she signed to the record label Global Talent Publishing. A year later she released her debut single Like a Star and her first album. Her second album, Corinne Bailey Rae, followed in 2006.This year she won a Grammy for for her work on Herbie Hancock’s album River: The Joni Letters. Her husband’s band had been hailed as an impressive live band consisting of trained jazz musicians. The Haggis Horns have worked with a number of well-known artists, including Bailey Rae, Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.
The band released their debut album, Hot Damn!, last September and were due to complete a number of gigs across the country over the next few weeks.