James Morrison

James Morrison Catchpole (born 13 August 1984) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 2006, his debut single "You Give Me Something" became a hit in Europe, Australia, Japan and Iran, peaking in the top five in the UK and claiming the No. 1 spot in New Zealand. His debut album, Undiscovered (2006), debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart. In 2007, Morrison won the Brit Award for Best British Male. In 2008, Morrison released his second album, Songs for You, Truths for Me, 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 10 singles "You Make It Real" and his critically acclaimed collaboration with Nelly Furtado titled "Broken Strings". Morrison is also a songwriter for other artists, having written for of Demi Lovato, Olly Murs, Kelly Clarkson, and Clay Aiken. In 2010, he wrote a song for Italian singer Marco Carta entitled "Quello che dai", which debuted at number one in Italy's chart. Early life 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 and his father enjoyed 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 Porth, Newquay, Cornwall, in a local pub called the Phoenix, Watergate Bay. He used to practise playing his guitar on the promenade looking over Porth beach. He took GCSE music at Treviglas Community College. After some years of covering other musicians' songs, he eventually started to write his own. He attributes his distinctive voice to a severe bout of 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.