The tragic story of Corinne Bailey Rae's husband - from award-winning musician to sordid 'drugs death'

By Beth Hale, Gavin Madeley And Jennifer Sugden
Updated: 13:01 EST, 25 March 2008

The husband of soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae was a musical award-winner and university high-flier before his death from a suspected drugs overdose.

Saxophonist Jason Rae - who graduated from Leeds College of Music with a first class honours degree - is understood to have been found dead on a sofa in a friend's flat after an evening spent with a friend.

Yesterday it emerged that drugs paraphernalia had been removed from the Leeds flat, including several methadone bottles.

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Talented: Jason Rae practised the saxophone religiously to become a successful musician

Last night one neighbour living near to the flat, just a short distance from the student digs of Chelsy Davy, said: "It's known round here that the house was used by drug users.

"People have turned up on my doorstep asking for drugs, not realising they had got the wrong house."

In contrast with his apparently clean-cut wife, according to friends Mr Rae, 31, who was found dead on Saturday had a problem with drink and drugs. But that was not always the case.

A close school friend in Aberdeen, Scotland, where Mr Rae grew up painted a very different picture of a highly talented young man who was never associated with drugs.

The friend said: "I remember him very well from school and was so shocked to hear the news of his tragic death.

"It is such a tragic loss, he was always such a talented musician and a lovely kind person."

She told how Mr Rae had always wanted to establish a career in music and took up saxophone while still at school, practising religiously.

She said she last saw him busking in Aberdeen after he had graduated from the Leeds College of Music - where he met the other members of his band the Haggis Horns.

"He had just met his wife and was planning to move back down to Leeds again but was in Aberdeen trying to get some money together.

"I am totally shocked to hear he has died of a drugs overdose, he never was associated with drugs when he was at school and I can't believe he got mixed up in all that."

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Jason Rae with his soul singer wife Corinne Bailey Rae

Mr Rae graduated in 1998 with a first class BA Honours degree in jazz studies, winning the top prize for jazz in his class.

By studying music, he was following a family tradition. His father, Alistair, spent 10 years in the Gordon Highlanders Military Band before going into teaching.

By 2002 Mr Rae, excited by his success. was writing on Friends Reunited about becoming a sought after session musician, playing with pop stars, including Amy Winehouse and appearing at major festivals, including Glastonbury.

He and his wife - who met in a jazz club in 2001 - had shared a home in the Hyde Park area of Leeds, but moved two years ago.

A woman who rented the flat in 2006 and who knew Bailey Rae from school days last night told how Mr Rae had come to collect their post late at night "looking completely out of his head."

"The same thing happened two or three times and he didn't call around again after Christmas 2006."

She added: "Another neighbour who has moved away said once they had a party, a really noisy wild party that went on til at least 5am when the neighbour went downstairs to ask for the music to be turned down he got very angry and told him to 'f*** off' in an aggressive manner. Corinne was no where to be seen.

"Other neighbours said he would often return home drunk and off his face. Corinne would tell him he wasn't sleeping at hers in that state and huge rows would start leaving Corinne distraught and in tears.

"Corinne doesn't deserve this. She is from a religious background and a good family, she was such a nice girl and would never touch drugs or get into anything like that."

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Jason had played with successful artists like Amy Winehouse and was in funk band the Haggis Horns

Mr Rae had been on tour for three months with the Haggis Horns and is understood to have met up with a friend when he arrived in Leeds on Friday afternoon.

The two spent several hours drinking in a pub in the centre of Leeds student-land before going back to the friend's flat.

The other man went to bed during the early hours, leaving Mr Rae on the settee.

When he awoke and couldn't rouse his friend, he called police. Bailey Rae is not thought to have been present.

The popstar, who has been compared to Billie Holiday and been nominated for a string of awards, sang in the church choir before making her mark in the music industry.

The singer, best known for the hit Put Your Records On, said in an interview in May 2006, that she had never tried drugs.

She added: "I'm not interested in manufacturing a high in an attempt to have a good time. It's not really a good time, is it?"