James' singing career began when he was a young boy soprano singing sacred music in the echoey crypts of St James Church, Sydney. Inspired by the large, euphonious voices of Maria Callas and Pavarotti he spent time in his early twenties studying classical singing, and briefly dreamed of a career as an opera singer. Around this time he also began listening to jazz and blues and started emulating the raw, powerful tones of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith. He believes this was when he really evolved his more contemporary, hi-tensile vocal style for which he is now known. Since then, James became a regular blues/jazz singer in pubs, clubs and cafes around Sydney. He has performed and toured internationally with gospel choir Cafe of the Gate of Salvation and the sacred music choir The Jacobean Singers. He’s sung with funk and rock bands The Diving Ducks, Platonic, Midnyt Sun, Reuben & Robert (with Robert Taylor from Dragon) and Mic Conway's National Junkband. He’s played support gigs for The Backsliders and Paul Capsis and appeared on media shows such as Austin Harrison's Stormy Monday and Doug Mulray's The Basement Live. Recently he's been a guest-singer with jazz vocalist Simone Waddell and her band. In 2013 he appeared on the second season of The Voice Australia.

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