James are an English rock band from Manchester, formed in 1982. They achieved popularity during the 1990s, with four top-10 hits on the UK Singles Chart and nine top-10 placings on the UK Albums Chart. The band's best-known singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", "She's a Star" and "Laid".
"Laid" also became a hit on American college radio. Following the departure of lead singer Tim Booth in 2001, the band became inactive, but members reunited in January 2007 and have since released a further seven albums. Live performance has continually remained a central part of the band's output. As of 2010, the band had sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.
Members:
Jim Glennie - bass guitar, backing vocals (1982-2001, 2007-present)
Tim Booth - lead vocals (1982-2001, 2007-present)
Adrian Oxaal - lead guitar, cello (1995-2001, 2015-present)
David Baynton-Power - drums, percussion (1988-2001, 2007-present)
Saul Davies - rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, violin, percussion, backing vocals (1989-2001, 2007-present)
Mark Hunter - keyboards, piano, programming (1989-2001, 2007-present)
Andy Diagram - trumpet, percussion, backing vocals (1989-1992, 2001, 2007-present)
Deborah Knox-Hewson - backing vocals, percussion, drums (2018 touring, 2021-present)
Chloe Alper - backing vocals, percussion (2018-present)
Name Origin:
James were formed in 1982 in Whalley Range, Manchester, when Paul Gilbertson persuaded his friend Jim Glennie to buy a bass guitar and form a band with him. Their line-up solidified when Gavan Whelan joined on drums. They played a string of gigs under the names Venereal and the Diseases and Volume Distortion before settling on the name of Model Team International, then shortened to Model Team.
They performed mostly improvised material derived from jam sessions, supporting The Fall at an early gig at Manchester Polytechnic. Vocalists and other musicians drifted rapidly in and out of their line-up until the band encountered Tim Booth at a student disco. Gilbertson invited him to the band's scout hut in Withington to join the band as a dancer; he was soon promoted to lead singer.
In August 1982, after a brief period under the name Tribal Outlook, the band renamed themselves James, after Glennie. As Glennie later said:
"No one ever calls me James, so I don't associate it with my name in that respect. We couldn't use Tim because he's the singer and that would be weird. Our drummer was called Gavan, and we thought it sounded too 'heavy metal,' and the other one was Paul, so it was either James or Paul, so we went with James. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time we just thought, "Cool let's call the band 'James.'"
From: Whalley Range, Manchester, England
Genre(s):
Indie pop,
Madchester,
alternative rock,
Britpop
Active From: 1982-2001, 2007-present