Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullumis an English jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Although he is primarily a vocalist/pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth20 August 1979
ages catching drums piano quickly sit
I sit around for ages waiting for inspiration. Then when I get an idea, I want to go with it and get something as quickly as possible. It's like catching a fly in a bottle. I'll play with drums for a bit, then the piano for a bit, play the guitar.
both families family grow loving lucky meet older realise stable unstable
As I grow older and meet more and more people, I realise how lucky I am to have had a stable family environment. Both my parents had loving families but unstable upbringings, so they wanted us to have a more stable situation.
allowed animated bands fairly played rock stuff sure whether
See, in the rock bands and stuff I was in, I'd always been a fairly animated performer, but when I played jazz, I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to do that, you know?
babies tips unless
Don't give tips to friends who are about to have babies unless they ask!
english near nowhere
'Cullum' is Scottish, but I'm nowhere near Scottish. My mother is Burmese, and my father is of German, Jewish, English ancestry.
best damage friend grew guitar lover pianos playing prize relationship worship
I worship pianos like they are prize diamonds, and I never willfully do damage to them. But I grew up playing guitars, and you treat a guitar like a best friend or a little brother or a lover you have a tempestuous relationship with.
applying job people stories thinking writes
I was thinking of applying to the 'Guardian' for a job after university. Yeah, I wanted to be one of the people who writes stories in G2.
believe bomb examine kids life sets
Having kids sets a bomb off in your life. It really makes you examine who you are, what you believe in and what you want to be. And that is magical for creativity.
certain element few genres level tried
I don't think I've ever been true to jazz. There's always a kind of jazz element to what I do. There are a very few genres that I haven't tried out, really, in what I've been doing. As a jazz musician, you can kind of mess about with things with a certain level of musicianship, which helps.
decorate marking million prefer records sold
Some musicians like to decorate their walls with discs saying: '1 million records sold in America.' I prefer to put up discs marking sales in lesser-known countries.
discovered original people playing pop standard tend vh1
Most people in the U.K. discovered me playing a standard on Parkinson. In America, it was on VH1 singing an original called 'All At Sea,' which is a contemporary pop song. So the people that know me there tend to think of me in the singer/songwriter category.
complex deeper emotion great happiness intensity manages paradox proud sad state understanding
'm really proud of 'Sad, Sad World' because it manages to state a very complex paradox of an emotion that I experienced when I had children, which is this great happiness and this great intensity, but with that intensity comes a deeper understanding of the world.
beautiful believe intense kids life past
One of the beautiful things about having kids is I had no idea how much it will make you look into yourself and who you are and what you believe in and what your past was like and all that kind of stuff. I think it's made me really look at life in a much more intense way.
dad definitely died early filtered gene met
My grandfather, Harry, died when my dad was in his early 20s, so I never met him. Amazingly, he was 6ft tall. That gene definitely never filtered down to me!