Gavin James (singer)

Gavin Wigglesworth, known professionally as Gavin James, is an Irish singer-songwriter. In March 2013 and March 2016, he won the Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year award.^[1]

Early life

James was born in Dublin on the 5th of July 1991 and grew up in a household surrounded by music. James' dad would play Cat Stevens, Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan whilst his sister Emma sang and toured with a musical in Ireland.^[2] James' great-grandparents were opera singers and his grandfather was a stand-up comedian and whistler.^[3]

James began playing music in a rock band at the age of 14 and writing his own songs. The rock band was short lived, however James continued to perform solo, playing numerous gigs for years and building his audience. By age 21 he had begun focusing on his songwriting and playing open mic nights. In 2013, James independently released the single "Say Hello", which won the Meteor Choice Award for Song of the Year. By 2015, James had signed deals with Sony in Europe and Capitol Records in the US.^[4]

Musical career

In the spring of 2015, he appeared on US television's Dancing with the Stars and released a four-track EP titled For You. Later that year, he was invited to open for chart-toppers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith on their respective tours, and released singles including "Bitter Pill" from his full-length studio debut of the same name.^[5]

James released his debut album Bitter Pill on 20 November 2015 through Warner Ireland. It was awarded Platinum certificate for sales in Ireland. Subsequently, Bitter Pill has won the Choice Music Prize for Best Single released in 2015.^[6]

In May and November 2015, James appeared on James Corden's Late Late Show^[7] and Jimmy Kimmel in December 2015.^[8] In January 2016 James appeared on the BBC One Show, C'est A Vous and RTE and was included in Buzzfeed's^[9] and The Sun's 'Ones to Watch 2016' lists.^[10]

He has been supporting act for Kodaline, Tori Kelly,^[11] Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran on their tours.^[12] In 2016 James performed at RTÉ's Centenary Concert to mark the 100 year anniversary of Ireland's Easter Rising.

Spotify have announced Gavin James to be a 'Spotify Spotlight Artist of 2016'. On January 21 James set off on his debut European headline tour, starting with three sold out back-to-back dates at the Olympia Theatre in Ireland. James travelled back to America to support Ben Rector on his US tour in March 2016. James' cover of David Bowie's "Changes" relaunched the new Virgin Radio UK at 11am GMT on 30 March 2016, he later performed live and was interviewed for the show.^[13]

On 7 October James sold out Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and he headlined his first arena show at 3Arena on the 9 December in Dublin and played to 15,000 fans.^[14] James also won the 'Breaking Artist' award at the 2016 Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards on 2 November.^[15]

Bitter Pill

Work began on his debut album Bitter Pill album in 2015. It was recorded in London and LA with Producers Fraser T. Smith and Cam Blackwood. James on the album, "I've always wanted to hear how my songs would sound properly produced, but I didn't want them to lose the edge they had live. We recoded the song Bitter Pill first and once we found the sound for that the rest was easy."

Simon Neil plays the guitar on '22'^[16] and James’ big sister Emma provides backing vocals on the song 'Coming Home'.

The album was released in Ireland on 20 November 2015 and was subsequently certified Platinum.

Bitter Pill was released worldwide on 11 March 2016. ^[17]

The song '22' was used in the 10th episode of the 13th season of the American TV series Grey's Anatomy.

Singles and EP's

Nervous (The Ooh Song) [Mark McCabe Remix] has hit over 70M streams to date and certified double platinum in Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Holland. ^[18]

Winter Songs a collection of Christmas Songs from Gavin James was released in November 2016 and has amassed over 3 million streams on Spotify and a plethora of radio support across Europe and the US.^[19]

Charity

James is an avid supporter of Anti-Bullying work within schools. In October 2016 he performed at The Diana Award Anti-Bullying programme's 17th Anniversary Reception in Downing Street to an audience of trustees, anti-bullying ambassadors and supporters.^[20] On 12 December he organised an intimate show in central London with all proceeds pledged to the The Diana Award. James experienced bullying when he was younger and wrote the track '22' about his experience. He continues to support the charity to help children that have been affected and continue to be affected by bullying.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Remixes

• 2015: For You (Remixes)

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

References

External links

• Official website