Jesse Rae, born 1951 in St Boswells, Scotland, is a Scottish singer, songwriter and composer whose career began in the 1970s when he moved to the United States, working as a runner at the New York Stock Exchange to fund his stay. His first breakthrough came with the single "D.E.S.I.R.E." released by TK Organisation in 1981, followed by a collaboration with Bernie Worrell in the P‑Funk offshoot Space Cadets. In 1987 he released his debut album The Thistle on WEA, which included the UK charting single "Over the Sea" that peaked at number 65 in 1985; the single was accompanied by a music video filmed at Eilean Donan and New York City that earned a Sony Vira Award for Technical Achievement in 1982. Rae continued to release Compression in 1996, noted for its ISDN recording, and No Surrender in 2003, later reissued as Nae Surrender in 2024. He has toured internationally, including a 1992 Japan tour with On‑U‑Sound, and has collaborated with artists such as Adrian Sherwood and the Sugarhill Gang. Rae’s work has been recognized with multiple awards, including a UCLA Music Video Award in 1982, and his releases have seen limited edition reissues, such as the 2014 The Thistle (Special Edition) and the 2021 Global '95 double‑CD.