Background and career
Jake Bugg (born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy on 28 February 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. His self-titled debut album, Jake Bugg, some of which was co-written with songwriter Iain Archer, was released in October 2012 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. His second album, Shangri La, was released in November 2013, and his third, largely self-produced album, On My One, in June 2016. His fourth album, Hearts That Strain, a largely acoustic effort produced by Dan Auerbach, was released in September 2017. After a gap of four years, in August 2021, Bugg released the more pop-influenced fifth album Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.
Jake Bugg was born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy in Nottingham to musical parents who separated when he was young. His father, David Bugg, was a nurse, and his mother worked in sales, both parents having previously made recordings. He grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle Mark. He attended Farnborough School Technology College in Clifton. He has described a formative musical moment when, aged 12, he heard Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)" on an episode of The Simpsons. He was enrolled in a music technology course but, by the age of 16, he had dropped out and was writing and performing his own songs.
Bugg was selected to perform on the "BBC Introducing" stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival at age 16 after submitting material to their website, and subsequently signed to Mercury Records. His songs were then placed on various BBC Radio playlists, with "Country Song" being used in a national TV beer commercial for Greene King IPA.
Bugg's self-titled debut album was released on 15 October 2012. Talking about Bugg and his debut, Clash hailed the "precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs". On 21 October 2012 the song "Two Fingers" charted at 28 in the UK while the album reached number one in the UK charts. The album has sold 604,100 copies in the United Kingdom and is the 57th best selling album of the 2010s decade. Bugg's touring band drummer Jack Atherton and bassist Tom "Robbo" Robertson performed on five songs on the album. On 22 May 2012, Bugg appeared on the BBC music programme Later... with Jools Holland. In August 2012, Bugg was a support act for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at Belsonic Music Festival, Belfast. On 1 October 2012, he performed live on the BBC Radio 6 Music programme Live at Maida Vale.
Bugg had been in Malibu working with Rick Rubin and Iain Archer, and had had some interactions with Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, working on the drums to some of his songs, including the single "Broken". On 8 September 2013, Bugg tweeted, "2nd album done! Hope you're all well!" On 23 September 2013, Bugg announced his new album, Shangri La, along with a new single, "What Doesn't Kill You". Shangri La was released on 18 November 2013. This album is named after the studio Bugg recorded it in. As well as Chad Smith, Shangri La includes Elvis Costello's drummer Pete Thomas. The album generally received positive reviews from the music community. Bugg was one of five nominees for the 2013 Brit Award for "British Breakthrough Act", which was voted on by BBC Radio 1 listeners. The award was won by Ben Howard. On 28 June, Bugg performed an afternoon set on the Pyramid Stage at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival, making him the first artist that has moved from the BBC Introducing Stage to the Main Pyramid stage in successive years. On 12 July, Bugg played the Radio 1 Stage at T in the Park. On 13 July, he supported the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in London. On 20 July, Bugg headlined at the Splendour festival in Nottingham. On 2 August, Bugg performed at the Osheaga Festival in the Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Quebec. On 23–25 August, Bugg performed at the Reading and Leeds Festival on the Radio 1/NME stage. On 13 October, Bugg performed at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, California. That same month, he was also at the River Stage at Ottawa Bluesfest and performed at the Paléo Festival near Lake Geneva in Switzerland. In February 2014, Bugg performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London and was joined on stage by Johnny Marr and Michael Kiwanuka. On 5 October 2014, at Cardiff, he played for the first time two new songs: "Down the Avenue" and "Hold on You". A new song, "Feel What's Good", was used on the soundtrack of the film The Giver. Bugg's song "Simple As This" was featured in the film The Fault in Our Stars. The song "Me and You" was featured in the film Dumb and Dumber To.
Speaking to NME in early 2015, Bugg said that he was working on his third album, of which "the content of the songs was much darker" than earlier work. On the 16 February 2016 he released free of charge a new song: "On My One". On 25 February, his new single "Gimme the Love" debuted on BBC Radio 1. Bugg also talked about the forthcoming album On My One, announcing its release for June. On 26 February, he announced the album would be released on 17 June. He also shared the track list and revealed the artwork. In May 2016, a number of tour dates in London and Nottingham for June were announced. His 2012 single "Trouble Town" was used as the theme for each of the three BBC TV series Happy Valley broadcast in 2014, 2016 and 2023.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
