James Morrison

James Morrison (born James Morrison Catchpole; 13 August 1984) is a BRIT Award-winning English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rugby, Warwickshire. In 2006, his debut single "You Give Me Something" became a hit in Europe, Australia, and Japan, peaking in the top five in the UK and New Zealand. His debut album, Undiscovered, debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart. He released his second album, Songs for You, Truths for Me in 2008, which entered the top five in the UK as well as topping the Irish Albums Chart. Songs for You, Truths for Me featured the top ten singles "You Make It Real" and his critically acclaimed collaboration with Nelly Furtado titled "Broken Strings". He has performed with Jason Mraz, Nelly Furtado, and others in concerts and in songs. Morrison wrote a song for Italian singer Marco Carta entitled "Quello che dai", which debuted at number one in the official chart.. Morrison was born in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, where he was surrounded by the influence of his parents' record collection; his mother was a fan of soul while his father enjoyed listening to folk and country. He began playing guitar when his uncle Joe showed him how to play a blues riff. As a teenager he started busking when he lived in the village of Porth, near Newquay, Cornwall, in a local pub called the Phoenix which is in Watergate Bay. He used to practice playing his guitar on the prom looking over Porth beach. He took GCSE music at Treviglas Community College. After some years of covering other musician's songs, he eventually started to write his own. He attributes his distinctive voice to a severe bout with whooping cough that nearly killed him when he was a baby.. Morrison has alluded to an unhappy childhood affected by poverty and illness; he said of his hometown "the best thing is I've got memories of being a kid there and the worst thing is I've got memories of being a kid there." When Morrison was only a few weeks old, he contracted whooping cough and was given a 30% chance of survival from doctors, who believed that if he survived, he would be severely brain damaged. He states that he "went blue and stopped breathing and [doctors] had to resuscitate me four times." After the experience, his parents divorced when he was four years old and he suffered from low self esteem at school, where he was ostracized for being involved in music rather than sports. He finally gained confidence when he moved to Cornwall as a teenager, where people were more accepting of his musical inclinations....
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