Profile of Jamie Cullum on Famous Like Me

Jamie Cullum (born August 20, 1979) is a British lounge jazz pianist and singer.

Biography

Originally born in Essex, but raised in Hullavington, Wiltshire, Cullum released his first album, Jamie Cullum Trio—Heard it All Before, in 1999. A mere 600 copies were made. Original copies have sold for as much as £600 (and above) on eBay. The success of Heard It All Before resulted in Jamie being invited to appear on Geoff Gascoyne's album Songs of the Summer. After graduating from the University of Reading in 2001, Cullum—who is completely self-taught, bar a few piano lessons as a youngster—released a best-selling album, Pointless Nostalgic, which stirred interest from Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg. Following that, in April 2003 signed a contract with Universal, spanning three albums, who beat Sony in a bidding war for the prodigy.

Cullum then started recording his second album, Twentysomething, which was released in October 2003, which went platinum and became the #1 selling studio album by a lounge jazz artist in the UK. Cullum's breakout hit in the United States was "All At Sea" closely followed by a reworking of Radiohead's "High and Dry".

Although primarily a louge pop/jazz musician, Cullum performs in a wide range of styles and is generally regarded as a "crossover" artist with his musical roots firmly based in lounge jazz. Cullum draws his inspiration from many different musicians, from Miles Davis to Tom Waits.

Together with his elder brother, Ben Cullum, he wrote the music for a West End stage version of When Harry Met Sally.

The British Jazz Awards first recognized Jamie's growing success by awarding him the "Rising Star" award, at the 2003 ceremony in July. In the 2004 Brit Awards, Cullum was nominated in the "British Breakthrough Act" category. He performed live in the ceremony at Earl's Court, a duet with Katie Melua of The Cure's "Love Cats". In the 2005 Brit Awards, Cullum was nominated for two awards: "Best Male Artist" and "Best Live Act".

Following that, Cullum was also nominated for a prestigious Grammy award in 2005, and went on to win yet another award at the BBC Jazz Awards, This time scooping Radio 2 "Artist Of The Year", as voted for by listeners of Radio 2.

Cullum's third major label album, Called Catching Tales, was released on the September 26, 2005, In the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, and two weeks later in the United States, on October 11.

The following titles appear on the album in Europe: My Yard, London Skies, Mind Trick, Back To The Ground (Written with Ed Harcourt), Oh God (Written with Guy Chambers), I'm Glad There Is You (Jazz Standard), 21st Century Kid (where Cullum gets political about the war in Iraq), Nothing I Do, I Only Have Eyes For You (Jazz Standard), Photograph, Catch The Sun (Originally performed and written by Doves), 7 Days To Change Your Life (inspired by American tapes that supposedly 'changed your life for the better in just 7 days'), Our Day Will Come, Fascinating Rhythm (Jazz Standard) and Get Your Way (the first single from the album, to be released on the 19th of September in UK and The Netherlands). The American and French version of Catching Tales does not feature Fascinating Rhythm. The second single to be released, in UK and The Netherlands, will be "Mind Trick". A funky track written with Jamie and, his brother, Ben.

A special edition version of Catching Tales is also available, for Europe, featuring "an exclusive 20 minute behind-the-scenes documentary following Jamie throughout recording, mixing, the video shoot and on the road across Europe - includes a fabulous interview. 28-page booklet contains exclusive photos, Jamie rarities, extended liner notes plus a track-by-track introduction from Jamie himself!". Catching Tales has also been released on 7", with a limited edition run of red vinyl.

Catching Tales was to feature a collaboration with Pharrell Williams. But the track, "Wifey", that they recorded together ended up being taken off the album. A version of the song "Wifey" has also been recorded by Usher, which featured on a Japanese Import of Usher's album. There is a possibility of "Wifey" being released on Pharrell's forthcoming, solo, album. The new album has been produced by Stewart Levine, Who also produced "Twentysomething".

Cullum will be doing an 18 month tour with the material from Catching Tales, Starting at the end of October continuing through to November.

Discography

Albums

• Heard It All Before (1999)
• Pointless Nostalgic (2001)
• Twentysomething (2003) #3 UK, #83 US, #2 Australia
• Catching Tales (2005) #4 UK, #26 Australia, #30 Germany

DVDs

• Live at Blenheim Palace (2004)

Singles

From Twentysomething:

• "These Are the Days"/"Frontin'" (2004) #12 UK
• "Everlasting Love" (2004) #20 UK

From Catching Tales:

• "Get Your Way" (2005) #44 UK
• Mind Trick (2005)

External Links

• Home page
• Official Forum
• Jamie Cullum Lyrics
• Fansite Cullum Times

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Jamie Cullum