Jay Begaye is a singer, songwriter, painter, sculptor and a former rodeo contestant. He was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in the small town of Steamboat Canyon, Arizona.

Jay attended his first pow-wow in Salt Lake City and that is where he heard the Snake River Singers. This experience left him with an irresistible urge to compose and sing his own songs. From 1982-1986, Jay began singing with a noted drum group, the White Eagle Singers, and later moved to Canada. There he formed his own group, the Cathedral Lake Singers. He lived in Keremeos, British Columbia, for the next 16 years. He has made several solo recording that combine his love of pow-wow singing with his Navajo heritage.
His recording Round Dance in Beauty was a 2001 AFIM Indie Award finalist and earned him Best Male Artist and Best Traditional Recording nominations at the 2001 Native American Music Awards. Jay is known throughout the North American pow-wow circuit for his singing and songmaking talents.

Today, Jay resides in his hometown of Steamboat Canyon, AZ, with his daughter Tiinesha. He works part-time as a substitute teacher at the public high school in Ganado, Arizona and donates a great deal of this time to helping today's youth on the Navajo Reservation.
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.