James Bay
James Bay
James Bayis a large body of water on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost part. It borders the provinces of Quebec and Ontario; islands within the bayare part of Nunavut. The James Bay watershed is the site of several major hydroelectric projects, and is also a destination for river-based recreation. Several communities are located near or alongside James Bay, including a number...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth4 September 1990
CityHitchin, England
When I'm writing, I need to amplify my thoughts and feelings on just a conversation that I might have had with somebody - somebody close to me. It's often the case that the people closest to me are the people on my mind the most.
When I was 16, I spent a year pushing trollies around a car park, and that wasn't fun. I didn't love working in a supermarket; it wasn't for me. It is for some people, and that's totally cool.
When I was 15, if anything, I thought I was going to be a Delta bluesman, which is so ridiculous.
I'm still like an excited kid playing guitar in front of the bedroom mirror.
Some of my songs are about the feeling you belong somewhere else. But there's also something grounding about coming from a small town.
My songwriting process is painful. Songwriting is brilliant. It's a load of fun - when it works. It's really difficult as well.
My songwriting process, and maybe loads of other people's, is just this sort of smashing together of emotions and stuff to make some music. It's kind of simple and really complex at the same time and, as you can see, incredibly hard to explain.
I'm going to take each day and each thing and each gig as it comes at me.
I hope to have a long career, and I don't want to be defined by things that aren't the music.
I'm very close in age to my older brother, and we had a field at the end of the road where we could run around, climb trees, play football.
It's silly to call me the new Ed Sheeran. He can fill stadiums as a solo artist, but I'm not like that.
Up until the last minute, it was art and drawing for me. That was the first real and natural thing I thought I was good at and loved to do. But I developed a similar kind of love for music.
There was a guitar that my uncle owned and never learnt to play. He sold it to my dad, and when I heard 'Layla', that was the tune that really grabbed me. I said to my dad, 'Wait, there's a guitar, right?'
There should be an element of mystique between the fans and the artist. That bit between the stage and the audience. I think that's necessary.