The Texas born singer, songwriter, pianist, began his career on the streets of Houston as a party promoter and entrepreneur. James began performing at his own events and soon after in 1998 recorded his first demo “Jack of all trades,†with his University of Houston friend Rodger Aston Teague.James completed his education at Oklahoma State University where he started a hip-hop jam band called King James Verzion. After graduating the band moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma and quickly became a regional success doing over 700 shows together from Chicago to Austin. Due to the success of the bands debut album “The Movement†KJV decided to move to the larger market of Austin, Texas. In Austin KJV was an immediate success. The band landed several residencies at top venues on Austin’s famous sixth street. KJV was asked to perform at the University of Texas’s Forty Acres Fest with Cee-Lo of Gnarles Barkley.In 2005 James decided to go a different direction and moved to New York City where he worked with Emmy nominated producer Daniel Wyatt and Sonica Media Group who worked on Blues Travler’s Legends from the fall and Nora Jones’s early work with wax poetic. James went on to do regular dates with The Roots, Jamie Cullum, Ben Taylor, and DJ Logic under Sonica’s guide and released the single “Tuesday†at the Midem music conference in Cannes, France.In 2007 James teamed up with producer Jason Green. They were introduced by James’s longtime friend and collaborator DOE of Interscope records. James and Jason recorded and released “Symphony within me†on I-tunes to rave reviews. Big Burt and J emcee from Boston’s Choice 102.9 wrote “Thought provoking, witty, and intelligent music.’ Soon after symphony within me went into regular rotation.In 2009 James plans to release “My piano is my homeboy,†on his own label Rich Kid Records. Produced by himself and Jason Garcia. Carly Simon after a performance said, “James has an incredible stage presence.†Jamie Cullum says, “James is the best freestyle artist I have heard in ten years.†James has attended the Grammy Awards three times, was aired on MTV’s Real world Austin, and most recently opened up for Grammy Award winner John Legend.
