James Arthur (singer)

James Arthur at the NRJ Music Awards (2014)

James Andrew Arthur (born March 2, 1988 in Middlesbrough , England ) is a British singer and musician . In 2012, he won the ninth season of the talent show The X Factor .

life and career

James Arthur is vegan and is currently dating the dancer Jessica Grist. In 2019 he was named the most beautiful vegan of the year by PETA .

Arthur has been able to sell over 25 million records in his music career so far (as of January 2019). In addition, he is one of only a few artists so far who could achieve more than 1 billion streams with a song on Spotify ; In March 2020, Arthur's Say You Won't Let Go temporarily reached 10th place on the worldwide Spotify leaderboard with around 1,360,000,000 views.

Youth and musical beginnings

James Arthur is one of five children of Shirley Ashworth and Neil Arthur. His parents separated when he was one year old. From the age of nine he lived in Bahrain for four years and attended the British School of Bahrain there. After returning to the UK, he attended Ings Farm Primary School and Rye Hills School .

He played in school bands and gained experience as a solo artist and singer-songwriter performing in bars. Arthur published his first own songs on Soundcloud and YouTube , including the album Sins by the Sea . In August 2012 he released the album Hold On under the project name The James Arthur Project , which was created in collaboration with John McGough, who died in 2018. The EP Collection was released later .

Casting show win with Impossible and first studio album

In 2011 Arthur took part in the talent show The Voice UK , but only made it to the top 200 candidates.

On December 9, 2012 Arthur finally won the talent show The X Factor against Jahméne Douglas with an interpretation of the song Impossible by Shontelle . The recording, which was released as a single, reached the top of the British iTunes charts after one day and is the third best-selling single in Great Britain since 2000. In Germany, the song only became known after Ricardo Bielecki appeared on the talent show Deutschland sucht den Superstar . In Switzerland the song reached number 2 in the charts.

On August 7, 2013 Arthur announced via Twitter that his second single You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You will be called, a rock song with soul elements, for which a video was also produced.

On November 4, 2013, his first commercial album James Arthur was released . Although a large number of employees were involved in the production, the result only partially met his expectations. The German music critics from laut.de nonetheless saw it as a positive example of the debut of a casting show winner: "Dear Dieter Bohlen, dear Sarah Connor, dear Nena, dares to take a quick look at England. This is how you make your own and a talented singer and songwriter a star who has what it takes to last more than two weeks. "

Musical and personal crisis

With increasing success, the pressure of the media increased and fears of failure set in, which led to the abuse of alcohol and pills. In coming to terms with this crisis, Arthur realized that he had to find his own style and first learn to deal with public criticism. Arthur describes his panic attacks and anxiety in his autobiographical book Back to the boy . For his recovery and maintenance of his health, Arthur learned to love himself and think positively. He is now also a supporter of SANE , an English charity organization for mental health.

On May 15, 2014 Arthur released a free rap mixtape called All the World's a Stage via SoundCloud. His record company, Syco Music founded by Simon Cowell , then terminated the contract, as some text passages were understood as glorifying violence. There had been various scandals before, which had been picked up by the British press and which many people - e. B. also caused great resentment among the fans of One Direction , whose members were referred to by Arthur as "puppets". In the meantime, however, the differences that Arthur had with Louis Tomlinson and others have been settled.

In August 2016, a flirtation resulted in the star's significant head wound that had to be sewn. A jealous man hit James Arthur on the head from behind with a glass. This earned the attacker over 5 years in prison in early 2017.

The comeback - Say You Won't Let Go and the second studio album

On October 28, 2016, the second album Back from the Edge was released. The first single, Say You Won't Let Go , reached number 1 on the British charts for 3 weeks .

The song Say You Won't Let Go is Arthur's most successful song to date with over eight million sales worldwide. The song was created when an employee of Sony Columbia USA, Ina Jedlicka, pointed out to him that his album was still missing a single release. She suggested that the song tell a story along the lines of Lukas Graham's 7 Years or Justin Bieber's Love Yourself . Arthur then wrote the song within two hours . When asked to release this song as a single, Arthur initially reacted angrily, as the composition of the song had taken relatively little time compared to other songs on the new album. Nevertheless, he agreed to the pre-release for September 2016.

In the course of his recurring success, Arthur was also the first musician ever to be re-signed by Syco Music. Since then his management in the United Kingdom has been taken over by Syco Music again, but otherwise by Columbia Germany since 2015.

The song The Truth , which was used as the theme music for the American television series Family Therapy , appeared on the deluxe version of the album.

The third studio album and future plans

In late 2017, Arthur went on a major arena tour in England. He also presented his first single since his comeback album: the song Naked , produced by Max Martin , which also became famous in German-speaking countries. However, the song became a surprise success in Brazil after it was played there as background music in a soap opera .

At the end of June 2018, Arthur announced on Twitter that he would retire from the music business after completing his third album. Previously, his new single You Deserve Better had missed the UK Top 40. ^{[obsolete] However, he} later revised this statement. The simultaneously published singles You Deserve Better and At My Weakest were not included on the new album You , but remained an independent EP release.

In October 2019 Arthur released his third studio album You , with which he narrowly missed first place in the British charts. Thematically, Arthur devoted himself less to his own autobiographical experiences on this album, as was the case on Back From The Edge , but instead - according to the album title You - rather focused on the stories, perspectives and problems of other people, similar to him already did it with his hit Say You Won't Let Go , with which his fans could also identify themselves. In the weeks before and in the months after its release, Arthur went on tour with it, v. a. in Europe, the USA and the Philippines. Due to acute health problems, the European tour had to be postponed after only a few appearances or canceled entirely due to the subsequent coronavirus crisis.

For 2020, James Arthur announced that he would like to realize three different projects that are of personal concern to him and are less geared towards commercial success: an experimental pop album called Aura with his musician colleague and friend Dan Bingen (together under the pseudonym Blynd Men ), the second part of his rap EP All the World's a Stage and an alternative rock album, which is believed to be titled The Emancipation of James Arthur and will be his fourth official studio album. Even before, James Arthur had repeatedly criticized that he was actually much more diverse as a musician than his public image as a singer of emotional pop ballads would suggest.

Singing and musical style

Arthur's musical style varies from rock, pop, rhythm & blues, blues, soul to rap or, in freer vocal improvisations, even to jazz. What is striking is Arthur's desire and willingness to play live and unplugged anytime and anywhere, as he does in countless radio shows and on other occasions. At his concerts he likes to use several lead or rhythm guitarists, also unplugged, to support him so that he can concentrate more on his singing. He also likes to perform with background singers. During live performances, Arthur regularly covers songs by other artists, such as Ed Sheeran , Ariana Grande , Miley Cyrus or George Michael .

James Arthur has an extraordinary tenor-toned voice that he can drive to great heights using head-voice technique. The timbre and the light vibrato of his voice are already striking in the lower, calm pitch. As with some other artists, for example Rod Stewart , his vocal cords seem to be damaged, albeit to a much lesser extent. His melodic playings and embellishments of the actual melody or line of song, which he also applies coloratura-like to live performances, are virtuoso.

His music, some of which he wrote himself, generally expresses great sensitivity, sadness and inner conflict, for example in Recovery , Naked or Fall. Often his songs are about love relationships or psychologically stressful experiences, with texts that he recites now and then with a wink.

Well-known personalities can be seen in his music videos, for example in Naked Cressida Bonas , the ex-girlfriend of British Prince Harry , or in Empty Space also Tom Felton , who was involved in the Harry Potter film series.

According to his own statements, Arthur has been considered to be the interpreter of the song Someone You Loved several times , although this is actually sung by Lewis Capaldi .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2013	James Arthur	DE25 (3 weeks) DE	AT22 (2 weeks) AT	CH6 (34 weeks) CH	UK2 platinum (15 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 1st, 2013 Sales: + 300,000
2016	Back from the edge	DE38 (4 weeks) DE	AT38 (1 week) AT	CH7 (12 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (46 weeks)UK	US39 (61 weeks) US	First published: October 28, 2016 Sales: + 300,000
2019	You	DE35 (1 week) DE	AT31 (1 week) AT	CH5 (5 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (24 weeks)UK	US186 (1 week) US	First published: October 18, 2019 Sales: + 100,000

Mix tapes

• 2014: All the World's a Stage (first published May 15, 2014)

EPs

• 2012: Hold On (First published August 25, 2012)
• 2013: Undiscovered Acoustic (first published May 13, 2013)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2012	Impossible James Arthur	DE5 × 3 Triple gold (52 weeks)DE	AT4th gold (35 weeks)AT	CH2 × 2 Double platinum (63 weeks)CH	UK1 × 3 Triple platinum (24 weeks)UK	-	First published: December 9, 2012
2013	You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You James Arthur	DE54 (4 weeks) DE	AT55 (1 week) AT	CH38 (4 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 20, 2013
	Recovery James Arthur	-	-	-	UK19 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: December 9, 2013
2014	Get Down James Arthur	-	-	CH28 (7 weeks) CH	UK96 (1 week) UK	-	First published: March 3, 2014
2016	Say You Won't Let Go Back from the Edge	DE6 (28 weeks) DE	AT5 gold (27 weeks)AT	CH4th platinum (35 weeks)CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (42 weeks)UK	US11 × 3 Triple platinum (52 weeks)US	First published: September 9, 2016
2017	Safe Inside Back from the Edge	-	-	-	UK31 gold (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: February 10, 2017
	Can I Be Him Back from the Edge	-	-	-	UK69 gold (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: April 15, 2017
	Naked You	DE23 (19 weeks) DE	AT26 (15 weeks) AT	CH8th platinum (22 weeks)CH	UK11 platinum (14 weeks)UK	US- gold US	First published: November 24, 2017
2018	You Deserve Better	-	-	CH72 (1 week) CH	UK53 silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: June 1, 2018
	Empty Space You	DE99 (1 week) DE	AT63 (1 week) AT	CH40 (13 weeks) CH	UK22nd gold (17 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 19, 2018
	Rewrite the Stars The Greatest Showman: Reimagined	DE100 (1 week) DE	-	CH44 (6 weeks) CH	UK7th platinum (15 weeks)UK	US- gold US	First published: November 16, 2018 with Anne-Marie
2019	Nobody	-	-	CH87 (1 week) CH	UK52 silver (14 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 1, 2019 with Martin Jensen
	Falling Like the Stars You	-	-	CH28 (17 weeks) CH	UK25th silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 10, 2019
	Quite Miss Home You	-	-	CH56 (1 week) CH	UK77 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 18, 2019

More singles

• 2016: The Truth
• 2016: Sermon (with Shotty Horroh)
• 2016: Remember Who I Was
• 2016: Let Me Love the Lonely (with MaRina)
• 2018: At My Weakest
• 2019: Treehouse (with Ty Dolla Sign feat.Shotty Horroh)
• 2019: Finally Feel Good
• 2019: You (with Travis Barker )

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2013	Wrecking Ball The Second Chapter (YouTube Covers)	-	-	-	UK97 (1 week) UK	-	First release: October 2013 Alonzo Holt feat. James Arthur
2017	Bridge over Troubled Water	-	AT32 (3 weeks) AT	CH28 (2 weeks) CH	UK1 silver (5 weeks)UK	-	First published: June 21, 2017 as part of Artists for Grenfell ; Sales: + 200,000 Original: Simon & Garfunkel
	Sun Comes Up	DE76 (5 weeks) DE	AT50 (5 weeks) AT	CH48 (13 weeks) CH	UK6th platinum (22 weeks)UK	-	First published: June 30, 2017 Rudimental feat. James Arthur
2018	You can cry	-	-	-	UK91 (1 week) UK	-	First published: May 4th, 2018 Marshmello & Juicy J feat. James Arthur
	The Power of Love	-	-	-	UK4 (6 weeks) UK	-	First published: December 2nd, 2018 Dalton Harris feat. James Arthur

Further guest contributions

• 2014: Kryptonite (Rymez feat. James Arthur)
• 2015: Otherwise (MOKS feat. James Arthur)
• 2017: Go for Broke ( Machine Gun Kelly feat. James Arthur)
• 2019: Burn Me Alive ( Alex Hepburn feat. James Arthur)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2018: for the single Naked  Brazil 2019: for the album Back from the Edge  Denmark 2018: for the single Naked 2019: for the single Impossible 2019: for the single Can I Be Him 2020: for the single Nobody  France 2013: for the single Impossible  Italy 2019: for the single Can I Be Him  Canada 2019: for the single Naked  Poland 2016: for the single Let Me Love the Lonely 2019: for the single Naked  Sweden 2017: for the album Back from the Edge 2018: for the single Naked

Platinum record  Australia 2018: for the single Sun Comes Up  Belgium 2014: for the single Impossible 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go  Brazil 2020: for the album You  Denmark 2019: for the album Back from the Edge  France 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go  Italy 2014: for the single Impossible 2019: for the single Naked  Canada 2019: for the single Impossible 2019: for the album Back from the Edge 2019: for the single Can I Be Him  Norway 2020: for the album You  Poland 2014: for the album James Arthur  Sweden 2013: for the single Impossible  Spain 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go

2 × platinum record  New Zealand 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go  Poland 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go 3 × platinum record  Denmark 2020: for the single Say You Won't Let Go  New Zealand 2013: for the single Impossible  Italy 2018: for the single Say You Won't Let Go 5 × platinum record  Australia 2014: for the single Impossible 7 × platinum record  Sweden 2017: for the single Say You Won't Let Go 9 × platinum record  Canada 2020: for the single Say You Won't Let Go 12 × platinum record  Australia 2020: for the single Say You Won't Let Go

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	18 × platinum18th	1,295,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	-	2 × platinum2	60,000	ultratop.be
Brazil (PMB)	-	gold1	platinum1	60,000	pro-musicabr.org.br
Denmark (IFPI)	-	4 × gold4th	4 × platinum4th	410,000	ifpi.dk
Germany (BVMI)	-	gold1	platinum1	450,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	-	gold1	platinum1	225,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Italy (FIMI)	-	gold1	5 × platinum5	255,000	fimi.it
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	12 × platinum12	1,000,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	-	5 × platinum5	105,000	nztop40.co.nz
Norway (IFPI)	-	-	platinum1	30,000	ifpi.no
Austria (IFPI)	-	2 × gold2	-	30,000	ifpi.at
Poland (ZPAV)	-	2 × gold2	3 × platinum3	80,000	bestsellery.zpav.pl
Sweden (IFPI)	-	2 × gold2	8 × platinum8th	360,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	-	4 × platinum4th	100,000	hitparade.ch
Spain (Promusicae)	-	-	platinum1	40,000	elportaldemusica.es
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	3 × platinum3	4,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	6 × silver6th	3 × gold3	12 × platinum12	8,860,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	6 × silver6th	21 × gold21st	81 × platinum81

Awards and nominations

year	organization	Award	job	decision
2013	BRIT Awards	British Single of the Year	Impossible	Nominated
	NRJ Music Awards	International Breakthrough of the Year		Won
2014	Radio Rainbow Award	Pop International		Won
2017	BRIT Awards	British single	Say You Won't Let Go	Nominated
		British Artist Video		Nominated
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Breakout Artist		Nominated
	American Music Awards	New Artist of the Year		Nominated
2019	iHeartRadio Music Awards	Best cover song	Rewrite the Stars (with Anne-Marie)	Nominated

swell

1. ↑ He's achieved the Impossible! James Arthur is crowned winner of the X Factor 2012. Accessed December 10, 2012 . 
2. ↑ iHeartRadio: Is James Arthur Vegan? | 5 things. January 1, 2018, accessed July 12, 2018 . 
3. ↑ James Arthur confirms he is back together with ex Jessica Grist. February 25, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2019 . 
4. ↑ James Arthur, Jessie J Are PETA's 'Most Beautiful Vegan Celebrities' | Media Center. In: PETA UK. Retrieved January 24, 2020 (American English). 
5. ↑ James Arthur shows an award with the inscription "OVER 25 MILLION SALES" (23.01.2019) in an Instagram story.
6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors: 100 Most Popular English Songwriters . In: Wikipedia (Ed.): Focus on .
7. ↑ wikipedia contributors: 100 Most Popular English Songwriters . In: wikipedia (ed.): Focus on .
8. ↑ James Arthur: Appearance on October 28, 2010 at "The Victoria Pub", Saltburn-by-the-Sea, (youtube)
9. ↑ Sins by the Sea - James Arthur - Music - myopenmp3.com Free MP3 Download. Retrieved February 26, 2018 . 
10. ^ Dave Robson: Tributes after death of Saltburn musician John McGough. July 9, 2018, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
11. ↑ germanchartblog.blogspot.de ; Retrieved April 12, 2013
12. ↑ twitter.com ; Retrieved August 29, 2013
13. ↑ vevo.com
14. ↑ Interview with "interia.tv", Warsaw March 6, 2014 (youtube)
15. ↑ How to make a star. Retrieved January 24, 2020 . 
16. ↑ interview by Mike Pelzer, joiz.tv, Zurich, September 25, 2013 (youtube)
17. ↑ James Arthur: Back to the boy . Hodder & Stoughton, London 2017.
18. ↑ Introduction to Train Wreck , Concert Birmingham, December 21, 2016 (YouTube)
19. ↑ Celebrity support. Retrieved January 24, 2020 . 
20. ↑ twitter.com ; accessed on May 15, 2014; (Is also a Shakespeare quote)
21. ↑ Wikipedia contributors: 100 Most Popular English Songwriters . In: wikipedia (ed.): Focus on .
22. ↑ Owen Tonks: Is James Arthur saying f ** k One Direction as he releases his new album? November 7, 2013, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
23. ↑ Owen Tonks: James Arthur calls Louis Tomlinson a "little b ** ch" after secret text row. November 7, 2013, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
24. ^ Lewis Corner: James Arthur ends feud with 1D's Louis Tomlinson. October 3, 2016, accessed January 24, 2020 (UK English). 
25. ^ "The sun", February 15, 2017, England
26. ↑ Facebook: James Arthur, photos, photo with JA and Nicole Scherzinger
27. ↑ James Arthur: Back to the boy . Hodder & Stoughton, London 2017, pp. 228 .
28. ↑ Sunday, September 06, 2015-08: 50 pm: James Arthur has signed a record deal with Columbia Germany. September 6, 2015, accessed January 24, 2020 . 
29. ↑ James Arthur rejoins Syco, two years after being dropped | Complete Music Update. Retrieved January 24, 2020 . 
30. ↑ 'Back From The Edge' UK Arena Tour, November 2017
31. ↑ WATCH: James Arthur's 'Naked' Cameo On Famous Brazilian Soap Opera Is Everything. Accessed January 24, 2020 (English). 
32. ↑ James Arthur ? on Twitter . In: Twitter . ( twitter.com [accessed July 12, 2018]).
33. ↑ Susannah Alex, er: James Arthur confirms he's not actually retiring yet. July 22, 2018, accessed January 23, 2019 (UK English). 
34. ↑ Foals vs James Arthur for this week's Number 1 album. Accessed January 24, 2020 (English). 
35. ↑ James Arthur's new album YOU has a song for every mood. In: United By Pop. October 19, 2019, accessed January 24, 2020 (American English). 
36. ↑ mix1 de Editor: James Arthur & the album for the fans. Retrieved January 24, 2020 . 
37. ↑ James Arthur postpones rest of European tour after undergoing surgery. In: Metro. January 25, 2020, accessed on March 23, 2020 . 
38. ↑ James Arthur on Instagram: “Just got these 3 empty pads to begin work on some new music. 2020 will be the year I focus on passion projects and get back to making the ... " Accessed January 24, 2020 . 
39. ↑ James Arthur interview: "I'm seen as this guy who just does ballads - that's not me at all". Accessed January 24, 2020 (English). 
40. ↑ Introduction to Recovery , Concert Amsterdam, April 14, 2014 (youtube)
41. ↑ James Arthur Talks Lewis Capaldi Comparisons | FULL INTERVIEW | Capital. Accessed January 24, 2020 (German). 
42. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
43. ↑ Published one week earlier in Poland exclusively
44. ↑ BRIT Awards 2013: Best British Single . Capital FM . January 10, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2013.

Web links

• Website of James Arthur (English)
• James Arthur band website (English)
• James Arthur on Facebook (English)
• James Arthur on Instagram (English)
• James Arthur on Twitter (English)