James Morrison Catchpole is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Morrison was born on August 3, 1984, in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. As a young child Morrison began playing guitar when his uncle Joe showed him how to play a blues tune. As a teenager he started playing publically when he lived in Porth, Newquay, Cornwall, in a local bar called The Phoenix.
It was said that James practiced playing guitar on the peer overlooking Porth beach. He took GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) music classes at Treviglas Community College in Newquay, Cornwall, England. After several years of covering other musician’s songs, Morrison eventually began to write his own songs, songs that are said to contain a “raspy soulful” sound. He attributes his distinctive voice to a severe case of the whooping cough that nearly killed him when he was a baby.
Morrison’s first big album, called Undiscovered, was released in July 2006, the song “You Give Me Something” from this album reached the UK top five. Months later Undiscovered produced yet another top 10 pop single in the UK, “Wonderful World.” Morrison soon earned a name for himself touring the country with Corinne Bailey Rae, a pop and soul artist. In February 2007 James hit home by winning the Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist.
Undiscovered was released March 13, 2007, in the United States where it reached radio’s top 40, although it did not make the pop singles chart. In years to come Morrison teamed up with Jason Marz, in early 2008, on the track “Details in the Fabric.” In September of that same year James released his second album Songs for You, Truths for Me in the UK. Morrison says, “I just try to write simple lyrics that people will understand from all walks of life. You can’t be too clever sometimes because people won’t get it. And I always try to write lyrics where you understand every single line.”
Morrison recently announced that he has schedulaed many concerts for the summer of 2013, one of which is called the Concert at SEA festival in the Netherlands, which takes place at Zeeland in southwest Holland. The date is set on Friday, 28th June. After that he will appear at the Groove Music Festival on the Killruddery Estate, Co Wicklow, Ireland, on Saturday, July 6. Last, Morrison will be heading to Switzerland in July to play at the Blue Balls Festival in Luzern on July 23.
