Kent's musical journey began in her childhood with piano lessons. An unusually keen ear and true voice lead her to participate in school musical productions, and she could often be heard singing at impromptu musical events in the college's café. However, nothing suggested the shift in career that has propelled her to international recognition.
With a catalogue of 11 studio albums including the Platinum-selling, GRAMMY-nominated 'Breakfast On The Morning Tram' (EMI/BLUE NOTE 2007) and an impressive list of collaborations, Stacey has graced the stages of more than 50 countries over the course of her career. Kent paid her dues in the jazz clubs of London, before releasing the first of a series of 6 albums, 'Close Your Eyes' (1997), for the the Candid label. Her second album, 'The Tender Trap' (1999) brought her to the attention of jazz audiences in the USA when ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ and NPR's 'All Things Considered' featured her. After that, albums and awards followed. Let Yourself Go, a celebration of Fred Astaire was released in 2000, ‘Dreamsville' (2001) led to Stacey being awarded the Jazz Vocalist of the Year in the 'BBC Jazz Awards'. 'In Love Again', a collection of Richard Rodgers songs followed in 2002. 'The Boy Next Door' (2003) was Stacey's last Candid release and her first album to achieve Gold status.
During this period, Stacey cemented her reputation as a singer capable of putting a distinctive stamp on an impressive repertoire of standards. Her ability to communicate emotion through a nuanced and minimalist approach was showcased on Jim Tomlinson's album, 'The Lyric' (Token) which was awarded Album of The Year at the '2006 BBC Jazz Awards'. This album brought her to the attention of Blue Note records with whom she signed in 2007. With each successive album, Stacey's style has become more honed as her artistic outlook has broadened. Her search for songs had led her to look beyond the Great American Songbook, with French chanson and Brazilian music forming an ever-larger part of her repertoire.
Stacey’s repertoire includes a growing number of songs written for her by Jim Tomlinson with various lyricists, most notably the Nobel Prize-winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro. The idea of singing original compositions came up during a lunch with Ishiguro. The conversation turned to music and repertoire and the idea was hatched to write a series of songs for Stacey that distilled themes of memory, travel and love, that so frequently surfaced in her repertoire. From this conversation, the songs for 'Breakfast On The Morning Tram' were conceived. Almost overnight, Stacey transformed from being a singer of the Great American Songbook, to a singer with a highly distinctive and personal repertoire. The first collaboration between Ishiguro, the lyricist, and Tomlinson, the composer, 'The Ice Hotel', won first prize in the International Songwriting Competition song. Since then, all of Stacey's albums have been punctuated by original songs composed by Tomlinson with a variety of lyricists in English, French and Portuguese.
Kent has continued to pursue a frenetic recording and touring schedule. Her first album for Blue Note was followed in 2009 by the Gold-selling, all-French, 'Raconte-Moi'. She was invited to perform an all-French program at the Francofolies Festival and was awarded the Chevalier Dans L'Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres. Her first ever live album, 'Dreamer In Concert' (EMI 2011), was followed by 'The Changing Lights' (Warner 2013), which more than any other album, reveals the ever-present influence of Brazil in Stacey's music.
Visiting Brazil for the first time in 2007 to perform at the TIM Festival, Stacey vowed not to return until she spoke Portuguese. True to her word, she enrolled with Jim on the Middlebury College Summer Schools immersion program, where she had previously studied French, Italian and German. She returned to study the following two summers and now counts Portuguese among the other languages that she already speaks. On subsequent visits to Brazil, she met many of her musical heroes, including Marcos Valle, Edu Lobo and Roberto Menescal. She has recorded with both Valle and Menescal, having been invited to record with Valle to celebrate his 50 years in music on the album, 'Ao Vivo' (Sony 2013). A DVD and documentary of their collaboration and friendship was released in 2016.
With Roberto Menescal, Stacey recorded ‘Tenderly' (Sony 2015), an intimate collection of standards that showcases her crystalline voice and Menescal's warm guitar. Jazzwise Magazine referred to the album as "an extremely beautiful meeting of minds” It is Menescal's only recording as a jazz guitarist and demonstrates the debt he owes to the great Barney Kessel. As Kent's first standards album in a decade, it shows her increasingly impressive and maturing interpretative gifts.
Stacey’s “I Know I Dream” tour continues worldwide with sold-out concerts and festival appearances.