Ricky Kej

Ricky Kej AKA Ram Gyan Kej (born 5 August 1981) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning Indian music composer and environmentalist.

He has performed at venues in over 35 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva.

In October 2023, Kej was announced as a [https://www.unccd.int/news-stories/press-releases/three-time-grammy-award-winner-ricky-kej-appointed-unccd-goodwill#:~:text=Three%2Dtime%20Grammy%20Award%20Winner%20Ricky%20Kej%20appointed%20UNCCD%20Goodwill%20Ambassador,-2%20June%202023&text=Bonn%20(Germany)%2C%2002%20June,of%20its%20official%20Goodwill%20Ambassadors.

UN "Goodwill Ambassador" (UNCCD)] at the United Nations General Assembly by then President, Csaba Körösi.

Kej was also named a UNCCD Land Ambassador 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", UNICEF Celebrity Supporter, and is an ambassador for the Earth Day Network.

Ricky Kej was born on 5 August 1981.

Half Punjabi and Marwari by birth, Kej moved to Bangalore, India when he was eight years old and has lived there since.

He completed his schooling at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore and subsequently dentistry from the Oxford Dental College in Bangalore.

He did not pursue a career in the field and opted for a career in music instead.

Kej holds two Doctorate Degrees (Doctor of Letters) from the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bubaneshwar and from Gitam University in Visakhapatnam, India

While attending university he joined a progressive rock band which he says gave him a good foundation and exposure to music.

In an early interview, Kej's mother, Pammi Kej, has opined that her son's artistic genes were inherited from his grandfather Janaki Das, an actor, Olympic cyclist, and freedom fighter.

Kej does not look upon his degree in dentistry as an alternate career option, and notes that there are ups and downs in every occupation and there is no real need for a backup career.

He has revealed that his decision to follow a career in music was not an easy one for his parents to accept.

Kej started off his career as the keyboardist of Bengaluru-based progressive rock band Angel Dust.

Two years into the band, he moved on to become a full-time composer and set up his own studio, Raveolution, in 2003.

He eventually went on to create music for over 3,000 ad jingles and Kannada films.

He composed the music for the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony, held at Dhaka on 17 February 2011.

The project, his 14th studio album, debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard New Age Albums Chart in August 2014, a first for a person of Indian origin.

The album also peaked at No. 1 on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart in the month of July 2014.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kej is credited with over 3,500 placements for radio and television jingles.

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.

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."

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'.

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".

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).

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.

Kej is notably also a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (at the Indian Institute of Science).

In 2020, Kej was named as a GQ Hero 2020 by GQ magazine and in 2023, Kej was declared as GQ "Man of the Year".