Kristin Boutilier, aka, Kay, was born and raised on Cape Breton, the Nova Scotia. After graduating from the all girls Holy Angels High School iin 2005 she left Cape Breton Island and moved to Vancouver in the hopes of becoming a recording artist. Initially she struggled. About this time she's said, "I've been homeless, I've eaten in food banks...And then there's also been the highs where people said, 'You know, I think you have a gift, and you can stay in my house for a little wait until you get on your feet.' Eventually she found that she could get regular work as an MC at raves.

In order to raise her profile as a performer, she began making videos for her songs and posting them to YouTube. In 2011 ne of them, 'My Name Is Kay,' went viral garnering views in the hundreds of thousands. This got her signed with management, Last Gang Management in Toronto. With a hit single in Canada, Last Gang sent her to L.A. to produce a record for release in the United States. While there, she went to a barbecue with friends, where impromptu she sang a few songs in her pajamas. Ryan Tedder. a producer as well as the frontman for the group OneRepublic, liked what he heard and got her signed to Universal's imprint, Interscope Records.

Since then Kay has gone on tour with LMFAO, Ke$ha, Hedley and Karl Wolf. She has recorded with Cobra Starship, Far East Movement, Robby Rivera, as well as collaborating with .Tiesto, Diplo, and Steve Aoki. Kay has had songs featured on the soundtrack for the motion picture Step Up Revolution and the television program Reckless. She is currently working on a television series with Ryan Seacrest for VH1.