Bailey Rae was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2006.

In 2008, she won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year (for her work as a featured artist in Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters).

[14] Bailey Rae began her musical career at school, where she studied classical violin before turning her attention to singing.

Bailey Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the youth leader also coached rock bands in the local high school.

In her mid-teens, she was influenced by Lenny Kravitz, also exploring rock through listening to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.

Bailey Rae formed an indie group called Helen, which was inspired by similar acts such as Veruca Salt and L7.

In the three years after she married her first husband, Bailey Rae began working on solo material—this time steering away from her indie past and embarking on a more "soulful" path.

She collaborated with Leeds-based funk group the New Mastersounds on the track "Your Love Is Mine", which featured on their 2003 album Be Yourself, released by One Note Records.

In 2004, Bailey Rae got a breakthrough when she was signed by Global Talent Publishing and then approached by Craig David's mentor Mark Hill, from the duo the Artful Dodger, to appear on his new album better luck next time under his new alias, the stiX.

The resulting collaboration, "Young and Foolish", was released in April 2005 and brought Bailey Rae to the attention of the major record label bosses.

The follow-up single, "Put Your Records On", her biggest hit to date, rose to number two in the UK, and sold more than 945,000 US downloads.

In the middle of 2006, Bailey Rae embarked on her first international tour through Europe and North America with R&B singer John Legend, playing 55 shows including the festivals Rock in Rio Lisboa 2 and Live Earth.

Bailey Rae was the musical guest in a 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live with the host being Jaime Pressly.

The song was also released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

In July of that year, Bailey Rae performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.

[23] During the American and European tour, Bailey Rae recorded her first DVD with the title Live in London & New York.

The tour visited the UK, Europe, the US (Spring and Summer), Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the Middle East.

[28] On 2 June 2010, Bailey Rae appeared with Herbie Hancock, singing "Blackbird" in a concert honouring Paul McCartney in the East Room of the White House.

Bailey Rae was a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on 28 October 2010, covering the Bob Marley song "Is This Love".

During an interview for the 2011 Mercury Awards Bailey Rae revealed she was writing a follow-up album to her critically acclaimed The Sea.

[12] Recorded both at her studio in Leeds and in Los Angeles at Capitol Studios, the album was co-produced by Bailey Rae with Steve Brown, who collaborated on her critically acclaimed 2010 album The Sea,[31] and features Paris and Amber Strother (KING), Esperanza Spalding, James Gadson, Bill Withers, Pino Palladino (D'Angelo and The Vanguard), and Marcus Miller (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross).

[32] Bailey Rae was selected by NASA for the "Destination: Jupiter" campaign when the spacecraft Juno entered Jupiter's orbit on 5 July 2016;[33] represented Europe for the International Olympic Committee's PSA Campaign;[34] performed at various festivals in the UK and Europe, including Glastonbury;[35] and was special guest supporting Stevie Wonder at his Hyde Park, London concert.

[47] "Like a Star" is part of the soundtracks of several films, series and soap operas, such as Dynasty, Cashmere Mafia, 27 Dresses, Men in Trees, Nancy Drew, Perfect Stranger, Medium, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Venus, Grey's Anatomy, Criminal Minds and Sete Pecados.

In September 2012, she was featured in a campaign called "30 Songs/30 Days" to support Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book.

[49] While at university, she worked in the evening as a cloakroom attendant at her local jazz club, where she met Scotsman Jason Rae.

[52] In December 2008, Leeds Coroner's Court gave a verdict of death by misadventure and stated that Rae had died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol.