Jay Sikora grew up in several different countries before settling in North Lincolnshire. His father, who was a drummer, encouraged him to start playing the drums. Music was ever-present in Jay´s childhood home; his dad´s eclectic taste and the Latin rhythms from his Peruvian mother´s CD collection - were all hugely influential sounds that helped to define his own style of playing.

At the age of 16, Jay and his first band won local and national battle of the bands competitions and proceeded to play shows all around the UK. He was self taught until 2001, when he enrolled at Drumtech in London. Jay was awarded ´Best Overall Student´ there and was subsequently offered a place at Paul McCartney´s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Whilst studying, Jay collaborated with singer/songwriter and friend Stephen Fretwell to play on the Gold-selling album ‘Magpie’, recorded at Abbey Road´s Studio 2. He graduated from LIPA with a 1st class honours degree in Music and went on the road as part of Stephen Fretwell´s live band touring extensively and supporting the likes of Oasis and The Pogues along the way. Living in Manchester, Jay met and worked with many musicians and producers on a number of projects before becoming the drummer for Badly Drawn Boy in 2009.

After relocating to London, Jay started working with producer Dan Carey on sessions for artists such as Emiliana Torrini, Oh Land and Diane Birch amongst others. In 2011, following a short stint playing for US troubadour Willy Mason, Jay was asked to play for Warner Brothers artist Lianne La Havas and has since toured with her throughout Europe and USA several times. He played on the Mercury Prize 2012 shortlisted album ´Is Your Love Big Enough?´ which debuted the UK charts at number 4.

Jay´s influences include Brian Blade, Steve Gadd and his late dad, Frank Sikora.