Duncan James

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Duncan James

Background information
Birth name Duncan Matthew James Inglis
Born April 7, 1978
Origin Salisbury, England
Genre(s) Pop
Years active 2001–Present
Label(s) Innocent (2001-2006)
Website http://www.duncan-james.net

Duncan James (born Duncan Matthew James Inglis, April 7, 1978, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England) was a singer in the boy band Blue and is now a solo artist, sometime actor, television presenter and contestant of ITV show Dancing On Ice.

Contents

[edit] Early years

James grew up in Dorset and was raised primarily by his mother and grandparents after his father abandoned his mother before Duncan was born.[1] He had his education at Corfe Hills School. He starred in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 15, and played Puck. He also played Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes when he was a teenager. Duncan also worked for Haven Holidays as a Havenmate on the Isle Of Wight. He also lived in Blandford Forum were he attended the Milldown School. He attended Dumpton School where his grandfather worked as a music teacher.

[edit] Blue

In early 2000, James, along with Antony Costa, convinced Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe to form the group Blue. [2] Blue's R&B-influenced pop allowed the group to achieve commercial success in the United Kingdom and many other countries, including Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. From May 2001, when the group released its first single, "All Rise", to 2004, when the group released its final chart-qualifying single, "Curtain Falls", Blue had 11 top ten singles in the UK.

[edit] Solo career

In October 2004, James collaborated with Keedie to release the single "I Believe My Heart", which entered the UK singles chart at #2. [3] He returned to the solo music scene in May 2006 with his single "Sooner or Later", releasing the video in early May and planning to release the single commercially on June 5, 2006. The video reached #2 on The Box and #5 on The Hits. However, the single sold poorly and entered the UK charts at #35, slipping down to #72 in its second week before completely exiting the top 100. "Can't Stop A River" was his next single. It was released on Monday, 21 August, reaching a disappointing #59 in the UK Top Charts and peaking at the Number 97 in the Ireland Singles Charts. In Europe was released one day before, but not much interest was generated outside of the United Kingdom. The single dropped out the Singles Charts of many Europe Countries, like France, Germany or Belgium.

Duncan's album also fell short, selling less than 1,000 copies in its first week and not even breaking the top 50, and selling less than 15,000 copies. The album sold less than 450,000 copies around the world (412,350 copies). Although his debut album didn't do as well as hoped on the 2 February music channel B4 premiered the video for Amazed his new single which was scheduled to be released 12 March 2007.
However there was once again a lack of interest in it despite his appearance in 'Dancing On Ice' so the release was cancelled and Duncan James was dropped from his recording contract and has since announced he has quit music or at least his solo career which sparks rumours about a possible Blue reunion. Despite the overall failure of his solo career, in Italy, the album saw a great success, peaking at #2 on the album chart. There, it has been certified platinum for shipments of 80,000 copies.

[edit] Work outside of music

James has worked occasionally as a television presenter, having presented the 95.8 Capital FM's Party in the Park for the Prince's Trust (2003 and 2004), and ITV2's coverage of the TV series Soapstar Superstar, along with Jayne Middlemiss.

Other presenting work includes Pop City Live, Variety Club Showbusiness Awards 2004, T4 Movie Special: Spiderman II, Record of the Year: Downloaded and GMTV's Entertainment Today.

He has recently guest presented City Hospital and The National Lottery for BBC One.

Recently he has taken part in a workshop production of the new musical Sleeping Beauty.

Duncan has currently taken part on ITV1's Dancing on Ice in which he was in the grand final alongside rugby player Kyran Bracken and actress Clare Buckfield. He came third in the contest and was unable to perform his Bolero performance.

[edit] Personal life

James has a daughter named Tianie-Finn, born in 2005 to ex-girlfriend Claire Grainger. He has been quoted numerous times expressing his frustration with the media's constant obsession with who he is having a relationship with. [4]

It was recently revealed on Dancing On Ice that he has developed a condition known as Floaters during his appearance.

[edit] Discography

Album cover Album information
Future Past
  1. "Sooner or Later" — UK #35
  2. "Can't Stop a River" — UK #59
  3. "Amazed" — Released 12 March 2007 (UK) (Cancelled)

[edit] Singles

  1. "I Believe My Heart" (feat. Keedie) — UK #2
  2. "Sooner or Later" — UK #35
  3. "Can't Stop a River" — UK #59
  4. "Amazed" - Cancelled

[edit] Other

Album cover Album information
Future Past(Korean Special Version)

[edit] References

    [edit] External links

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