[10][11] Kay said in a 2010 interview that his mother raised him largely alone, which gave him "an itinerant childhood", half of which he spent "living in rural Suffolk".

[12] He moved back to Manchester with his mother and step-father Mervyn Kay after briefly living in Blackburn as a youngster.

[15] At the age of 15, he was homeless and turned to small crimes to survive; he returned home after a false arrest and near-death experience, working as a break-dancer and soon pursuing a career in music.

[16] After the success of Jamiroquai's first single, "When You Gonna Learn", Kay signed a US$1 million record deal with Sony Soho2.

[23] Professional appearances for concerts, interviews and the like have prompted descriptions of Kay as "the mad hatter" for his love of headgear.

[25] The Indian Country Media Network criticised him for wearing headdresses originating from Native American populations, including the feathered war bonnet (as seen in the music video and CD single artwork for "Corner of the Earth" as well as on the album artwork for 2010's Rock Dust Light Star).

His third appearance was in series 11, episode 6, where his lap time of 1:45.81 using the Chevrolet Lacetti beat the top time held by Simon Cowell by one-tenth of a second;[32] this car's record remained unbeaten throughout the entire series' run despite there being 58 drivers in total for the Chevrolet Lacetti, with AC/DC's Brian Johnson coming in second place for this car with 1:45.85.

In April 2001, Kay was charged with assaulting a photographer and damaging his camera outside the Attica nightclub in London's West End.

[36] Billington, who was drunk and motivated by romantic interest in a woman with whom Kay was interacting, lost his job and was jailed for 20 weeks.

Some press coverage has negatively contrasted his strong interest in luxury cars with themes of environmental concern in Jamiroquai's lyrics.

[39][40] He responded in one interview, "[People] keep talking to me about cars and environment, and I reckon I do about 3,000 miles a year [...] I don't really drive that much at all any more, because I'm either on tour or doing stuff.

A die-cast 1:18 scale-model series of Kay's black Enzo from Hot Wheels was available for purchase, including a limited batch of cars with hand-signed windscreens.

[46] Kay competed in the Celebrity Challenge race at the 2012 Silverstone Classic, finishing third behind AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson and actor Kelvin Fletcher.

[54] Kay stated in 2010 that he had a "substantial" cocaine habit before quitting his drug use in 2003, said to have been triggered over his break-up with Denise van Outen.

[60] In another interview, he talked about how he has made his home environmentally sustainable, including tending to his own garden without pesticides, caring for livestock, creating an eco-friendly waste-removal system at great cost, and maximising his recycling.