For as much as James Bay upholds traditions of timeless songcraft, the UK singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer also confidently challenges himself and popular music. He spikes a tried-and-true style with clever lyricism, honest confessions, and instrumental proficiency. On the heels of his platinum-certified 2015 debut Chaos And The Calm, he garnered GRAMMY® nods in the categories of “Best New Artist,” “Best Rock Album,” and “Best Rock Song” for the gold-selling single “Hold Back The River.” Meanwhile, “Let It Go” went triple-platinum. Nominated for dozens of awards, he took home two BRIT Awards, two Q Awards, and top honors at the Ivor Novello Awards and ECHO Awards.
Tallying nearly 7.5 billion streams by 2022, he has performed on Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. He has notably sung with numerous musical icons including Alicia Keys on The Voice, asked to join Mick Jagger while supporting The Rolling Stones at Twickenham Stadium in London, and joined Sheryl Crow on stage after performing his own set at Eric Clapton’s 2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, TX. In addition to selling out shows on four continents, Epiphone honored him with his own Limited-Edition James Bay Signature “1966” guitar.
Following the success of 2018’s Electric Light, he deconstructed his sound to its essentials on the Oh My Messy Mind EP a year later hitting nearly 550 million global streams. It yielded the hit “Peer Pressure” [feat. Julia Michaels], generating nearly 350 million global streams, received critical acclaim from Time, Rolling Stone, and Billboard, and the next year James opening for Ed Sheeran on his 2019 record-breaking stadium run. In 2020, James released his new single “Chew On My Heart” which has already hit nearly 90 million streams, delivered a historic performance on the top of the London Eye for The Late Late Show with James Corden, performed on The Today Show, Mahogany Sessions and a full concert on YouTube in support of #SaveOurVenues. He also created his own virtual event to share his music to fans during the pandemic, James Bay – Live At Shakespeare’s Globe which was a full concert event live-streamed at the historic venue. Last year, he guested on Maisie Peter’s song “Funeral,” which was featured on Apple TV+ original series “Trying: Season2” soundtrack.
To set the tone for the new year and his next chapter of music James finished a sold out “New Songs & New Stories” solo tour across the UK in support of Independent Venue Week. He followed this run up with two more sold out UK tours and a European Tour, whilst also supporting The Lumineers on their 2022 arena tour. On the tour he returned to numerous independent music venues where he first got his start as an artist- performing with just a microphone & a guitar – and previewed his personal album Leap. Leap was the most personal album James has ever written to date and he introduced it to a letter to his fans talking about how the album was also written about “the most important people in his life.” The album featured singles “One Life” and recently the track was used in the new movie trailer for feature film Spoiler Alert.
