An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of 770 such planets (in 616 planetary systems and 102 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of May 30, 2012. Estimates of the frequency of systems strongly suggest that more than 50% of Sun-like stars harbor at least one planet. In a 2012 study, each star of the 100 billion or so in our Milky Way galaxy is estimated to host "on average ... at least 1.6 planets." Accordingly, at least 160 billion star-bound planets may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy alone.Unbound free-floating planetary-mass bodies in the Milky Way may number in the trillions with 100,000 objects larger than Pluto for every main-sequence star.

For centuries, many philosophers and scientists supposed that extrasolar planets existed, but there was no way of knowing how common they were or how similar they might be to the planets of the Solar System. Various detection claims made starting in the nineteenth century were all eventually rejected by astronomers. The first confirmed detection came in 1992, with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Due to improved observational techniques, the rate of detections has increased rapidly since then. Some exoplanets have been directly imaged by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods such as radial velocity measurements.

Jason Rowe, who formerly recorded under the name Jai, is a British pop and soul singer currently residing in Bristol, England.

Jason Rowe was born in Yeovil, England, in December 1969. He moved to London in the mid-1990s and began working with producer Joel Bogen. A single, "Don't Give Me Away", was recorded under the name "Jai" and released on independent record label M&G Records in February 1997. The success of the single in the UK and across Europe attracted the attention of RCA Records, who released Rowe's debut album, Heaven, later that same year. The album featured mostly original works co-written by Rowe with Bogen, Christopher Bemand, and Rob Watson, as well as contemporary covers of the Arthur Hamilton standard "Cry Me a River" and J. J. Cale's "Magnolia". The single "I Believe" was a minor hit in the United States, and the album itself made a brief appearance at #49 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart.

In a February 1998 interview with Rolling Stone, Rowe discussed his vocal influences and overall style, likening the content of his first album to a mix of Portishead and Prince.