James Bay

“I’m trying to make songs that make people feel something and, if I’m lucky, even move them,” a statement from the official website of James Bay. a rising star on the British pop music charts.

- Verus Ferreira

26-year-old singer-songwriter, James Bay, lives outside of London, at the point where the city’s vast swathes of suburbs become the green fields of the countryside, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. No we have not reached his home or even met the singer, but his far off location away from the bustle of city life, is where the vocalist finds his inspiration to write his music.

James Michael Bay, born 4 September 1990, is truly a soul singer by all means. He has been entrancing listeners with his feather-light vocals and acoustic guitar. His model good looks and already trademark image, chiselled cheekbones, wide-brimmed hat, long dark hair, makes you want to tune in to who he really is.

Brought up in Hitchin, Herefordshire, James attended Hitchin Boys School. Around the age of 11 he was inspired to play classical guitar after hearing Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominoes Layla and songs by Van Morrison. He was encouraged to play the guitar after he found one lying in a cupboard unused for the last 15 years. With five rusty strings it was the guitar his father had bought from his uncle. Young enough to learn how to play from watching YouTube videos or instructional CDs, James spent hours practising in his bedroom, but later developed playing it by ear.