DRE KAY is a duo consisting of Musician/Composer/Producer DeAndre "Dre King" Shaifer and singer/songwriter Kenny "K'Alyn" Allen who originally connected on bandstands in Washington, DC in the onset of the 21st Century. Surrounded by Hip-Hop, Jazz, Soul, and Funk in DC's U St. renaissance in the late 90's, the two maintained contact and respect for each others works, while they grew their musical roots and changed geographic locations. Dre, originally from Gary, Indiana is a Betty Carter Jazz alumni and has produced music for 3 -time-Grammy Nominated Artist Raheem Devaughn, Kindred the Family Soul, Wale, Conya Doss, Sy Smith, Jon Bibbs, W. Ellington Felton, Bilal Salaam, Wayna and Nicholas Ryan Gant. Kay (Kenny Allen), from Washington, DC, currently living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has made 5 solo albums and is a flourishing producer of talented artists in Ethiopia. The two reconnected musically, while Kenny was recording his 5th release, ''Free'' and invited Dre to lay down keyboard tracks. As a gifted trumpeter as well, Dre obliged with penetrating horn arrangements. The concept of Common Thread surfaced shortly after. Dre sought a voice for his genre experimental compositions, while Kenny desired the groove and beauty in funk he experienced touring with artist Me'Shell Ndegocello from 1999-2002. The transcontinental collaboration, DRE KAY "Common Thread" launched with the song ''Different Kinda World" and continued on through to the title track which includes singers from 10 different nations, Ethiopian traditional musicians, and Ethiopian Folk Legend Seleshi Demessie. The album also features a guest performance from Washington, DC based all-things art, W. Ellington Felton, who has led the duo's visual presentation. Mix engineer, Ty Macklin, from Dallas, TX who has worked with Erykah Badu and other talented artists played a major role in the file swapping, internet exchange process. The duo released a teaser EP, ''From the Vaults'' in the summer of 2012 and is currently presenting their full album, Common Thread to the international market.