I Just Wrote About What I Know
There is a lot of Buzz around James Morrison right now in the states, where James has spoken about his writing and his life. “I just wrote about what I know,” he says. “But I didn’t want to set the tone too sad. I wanted to write an album where people would know that I’d been through a hard time, but no matter. You can come out of it.”
Only two years ago, he was cleaning vans for a living, six days a week, struggling to book gigs, even open-mic nights, in his scant time off.
Fired from that dead-end job, he was ready slink home to his mother’s home in Cornwall. Not an attractive option, as he sings in “This Boy.”
Morrison had moved out at 17, with no regrets. His family didn’t have a lot of money. He says, “So we used to go to this bar where — if I’d play and sing — they’d give us food, square meals and stuff. I was 15 at the time, and I’d sit on a pub table and go ‘Mom, I don’t like this,’ but she’d say ‘Shut up and sing!’ And I’d do the Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, old Beatles. I always loved playing, but I hated the fact that I was forced into it. So I ended up not wanting to play around my mom — I was always more comfortable on my own.”
Solo, it wasn’t much easier. While his girlfriend of five years, Jill, paid the rent, Morrison fought to be heard. As he was about to pack it in, he bumped into an old open-mic buddy, Ken Andrews, a guitarist who liked the youngster’s old-school style so much he offered to record him.
James Morrison in NZ: Luke Thompson Opening
James Morrison is in New Zealand right now and has Kiwi singer/songwriter Luke Thompson opening for him at St Theater, Auckland, Tuesday 15 May.
James previously visited New Zealand on a promo tour in October last year. Aside from interviews and stripped-back renditions of hits including ‘You Give Me Something’ and ‘Wonderful World’, James was also called upon to present the Best Male and Best Female Tuis at the NZ Music Awards.
“He seemed like a real laid-back guy,” says Luke of James, “friendly and unpretentious. I really like his album [Undiscovered] and I thought ‘It’d be great to work with him one day’.”
James Morrison At Logie Awards Photos
James recently performed at the Australian Logie Awards on the 6th of May. Below are some photos of James arriving for the awards seen with Stephanie Macintosh and Damien Leith from Australian Idol.
James The New Face of Soul
James Morrison – who, aping Stevie Wonder in You Give Me Something, sold an incredible 1.5 million copies of his debut single.
James who is barely of drinking age in the country from which he pilfered his sound, is blessed with an undeniably strong voice. It projects all the necessary grit and range to lend sincerity to even the most banal of lyrics.
Morrison, now 22, can’t help but be genuinely bewildered by his annus mirabilis. A penniless van washer less than two years earlier, in 2006 he released a No. 1 album (Undiscovered), won a Brit Award for best male solo artist and filled his passport chock-full of stamps.
Asked to list the most incredible moments, Morrison, who hails from a town called Rugby, is lost for words.
“Bloody hell, I’ve got a long list,” he says, genially. “Getting the Brit [award] was amazing. I’ve never thought I’d get a Brit award. I never thought I’d have an album let alone a Brit award.” The award was won at the expense of some of England’s best loved sons – including Radiohead’s enigmatic Thom Yorke and the suave Jarvis Cocker.
“When they called my name out I was like, ‘What?’” Morrison says, like an excited school kid. “It all kind of went into slow motion,” he says, mimicking a 45 record played at 33. “Everything was like Jaaaaaaammess Mooorissonn and I was like, ‘nooooo waaaay’.”
The publicity machine behind Morrison (Universal Records) has gone to great lengths to compare his voice, incredible as it is, to the great standards of the soul canon. The likes of Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder are often cited.
“It’s a bit silly, man,” Morrison says. “There’s only one Otis Redding, only one Stevie Wonder. It is kind – and I totally take it as a compliment – but it’s too much.
“I’m just a singer-songwriter, y’know, who likes soul music and sings with passion.”
The same publicity machine has also made much of Morrison’s less-than-ideal upbringing, born into a splintered family, moving regularly from town to town. His husky vocal cords are credited to both a bad case of whooping cough as a child and a strict diet of “best of” records. Again, the likes of Stevie Wonder and Al Green were among them.