James Morrison James Morrison (born James Morrison Catchpole, 13 August 1984) is a BRIT Award-winning English singer–songwriter and guitarist from Rugby, Warwickshire. In 2006, his debut single "You Give Me Something" became a hit in Europe, Australia, and Japan, peaking in the top five in the UK and New Zealand. His debut album, Undiscovered, debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart. He released his second album, Songs for You, Truths for Me in 2008, 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 ten singles "You Make It Real" and his critically acclaimed collaboration with Nelly Furtado titled "Broken Strings". He has performed with Jason Mraz, Nelly Furtado, and others in concerts and in songs. Morrison began playing guitar at age 13 when his uncle Joe showed him how to play a blues riff. He started busking when he lived in the village of Porth, near Newquay, Cornwall. After some years of covering other musician's songs, he eventually started to compose his own but with the help of an extremely talented musician, who was a family friend; Emma Withers. He attributes his distinctive voice to a severe bout with whooping Cough that nearly killed him when he was a baby. According to Morrison, he was influenced by music from a very young age, listening to artists such as Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Van Morrison and Al Green. Morrison said that the first time he heard Stevie Wonder's voice he was close to tears, and has since been fascinated by the way he utilizes his voice. While visiting Derby, Morrison found a pub called "Ryan's Bar" with an open mic night. For the next two years, he performed and built up a following until being signed by Polydor Records. Before being signed to a major label, Morrison had also been touring with Corinne Bailey Rae. He achieved worldwide success with debut single "You Give Me Something", which reached #2 in Holland and the #5 spot in the UK. He released his debut album Undiscovered on 31 July 2006. The album received generally positive reviews with the The Sun, claiming "There isn't a bad track on it". An equally positive review by The Times stated that "Undiscovered may prove to be the least apposite album title for years". It topped the UK Albums Chart on its first week of its release. The album sold over 1 million copies around the world by the end of 2006.[citation needed], making Morrison the best selling male solo artist of 2006 in the UK. The album's second single was "Wonderful World", which broke into the top ten in the UK following its CD single release, peaking at #8. The song fared just as well in the Netherlands where it peaked at #8. This was his second top ten single following the success of You Give Me Something. On 18 December 2006 James Morrison's third single, "The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore" was released. It peaked at #30 in the UK. The fourth single from Undiscovered was the title song "Undiscovered" which was released on March 13 2007. "Undiscovered" peaked at #63. The song fared better in the Netherlands where it peaked at #30. Morrison was scheduled to play at the 2006 V Festival, in one of the smaller tents there. The audience however, was much larger than expected and couldn't fit into the tent allocated for him. As a result, he had a ten-minute set on the main stage before Hard-Fi came on (Weston Park). At the 2007 V Festival he played his full set on the main stage. He also performed "You Give Me Something" at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance before Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall. He appeared on Live from Abbey Road following his live recording session at Abbey Road Studios on 5 January 2007. Following the release of Undiscovered, Morrison made his first appearance on national TV in the United States, at the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, in addition to appearing on NBC's Today Show, on 16 March 2007, performing "You Give Me Something" with just guitar and Wurlitzer piano. The album debuted at #24 in the US with 24,000 copies in its first week. In 2007, Morrison was nominated for 3 BRIT Awards and won the Best British Male Solo Artist category. (Other nominations were for the Best British Breakthrough Act, Best British Single Shortlist). On 4 April 2007, he was awarded the title of an AOL Breaker artist, a contest that was voted by the British public. At the Concert for Diana on 1 July 2007, he performed the songs "Wonderful World" and "You Give Me Something" in honour of Princess Diana. During the summer of 2007, Morrison headlined the Forestry Commission's Forest Tour. His fifth UK single, One Last Chance was released on 2 July 2007 as a download only. The video is being shown on The Hits, The Box and Smash Hits music channels. The video was shot in Canada in April 2007. On 29 November 2007, he performed in KL Convention Center for the Acoustic Live&Loud KL '07; a music festival in Malaysia. James had performed alongside Rick Price and local singer Dayang Nurfaizah.