- Jamie Cullum
Infobox Musical artist
Name = Jamie Cullum
Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Born = birth date and age|1979|8|20|df=yesRomford ,Essex ,England
Instrument =Singing ,piano ,guitar ,Stomp Box ,drum s
Genre = Pop, jazz-pop, crossover,Jazz
Education =Grittleton House School , Wiltshire
Occupation =Singer ,songwriter ,pianist ,guitarist ,drummer
Years_active = 1999–present
Label = Candid, Verve
URL = [http://www.jamiecullum.com/ www.jamiecullum.com]
Notable_instruments =Jamie Cullum (born
20 August 1979 ) is an English pop and jazz-popsinger ,songwriter ,pianist ,guitarist anddrummer .Biography
Cullum was born at
Romford Hospital inEssex , and educated at the independent fee-payingGrittleton House School and the sixth form at Sheldon School. Both are nearChippenham inWiltshire . His mother, Yvonne, is a secretary of Anglo-Burmese origin, whose family settled inWales afterBurma 's independence; his father, John Cullum, worked in finance. His paternal grandfather was aBritish Army officer, while his paternal grandmother was aJewish refugee fromPrussia who sang inBerlin nightclubs; Cullum has said that he sees her as his "cultural icon". He was brought up inHullavington ,Wiltshire but currently lives in North West London.Musical career
Cullum released his first album, "Jamie Cullum Trio—Heard it All Before", in 1999, of which 500 copies were made. Due to their rarity, original copies have sold for as much as £600 on eBay.The success of "Heard It All Before" resulted in Cullum being invited to appear on
Geoff Gascoyne 's album "Songs of the Summer". After graduating from theUniversity of Reading in 2001, Cullum released a best-selling album, "Pointless Nostalgic ", which stirred interest fromMichael Parkinson andMelvyn Bragg . (Cullum made his first television appearance on Parkinson's BBC chat show and was the last musician to perform on theMichael Parkinson Show 'Final Conversation' recorded on 26th November and broadcast on 16th December 2007.)In April 2003, Cullum signed a contract for three albums with Universal, who beat Sony in a bidding war. Cullum's third album, "Twentysomething", released in October 2003, went platinum and became the #1 selling studio album by a jazz artist in the United Kingdom.
Although primarily a 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 jazz. Cullum draws his inspiration from many different musicians and listens to a very eclectic mix of music from
Miles Davis toTom Waits and many more.Cullum has belonged to several bands, ranging from banging drums in a hip hop group to playing guitar in rock bands such as Raw Sausage and The Mystery Machine, in his teenage youth. Cullum names his elder brother,Ben Cullum , as his biggest musical influence, and the two have collaborated extensively.Jamie Cullum is well known not only for his abilities on the
piano , but also for his unique entertainment style and charisma. One of the many things that features in Jamie's concerts is the "stompbox" (not to be confused with aneffect pedal for guitars), made from a small wooden block. The stompbox is used toamplify a musician's tapping foot. Jamie found this inAustralia and uses it to enhance upbeat and fast-paced songs such as "Seven Nation Army " originally by theWhite Stripes and "Gold Digger ", originally byKanye West . He is also often found using a looping machine. This plays a heavy part in Cullum's versions ofSeven Nation Army and Teardrop byMassive Attack . Cullum is also often foundbeatboxing at nearly every gig.As well as
White Stripes andKanye West , Cullum has performed work byMassive Attack ,Pussycat Dolls ,Radiohead ,Gnarls Barkley ,Elton John ,Jimmy Hendrix ,Justin Timberlake ,John Legend ,Joy Division and many others. Cullum rarely works to a set list and on average his gigs last just over two hours. The gigs are largely improvised, rooted injazz but not solely consisting of jazz music.Cullum has played at many large music festivals, including Glastonbury Festival 2004, Coachella 2005, 2006
South by Southwest ,North Sea Jazz Festival and the 2006Playboy Jazz Festival .On the April 29, 2006, Cullum played his biggest ever crowd onQueensday inThe Netherlands .On August 20th, 2008, Jamie celebrated his 29th Birthday (his last as a “
Twentysomething ”) at theHollywood Bowl , performing with theCount Basie Orchestra .Awards
The British Jazz Awards first recognised Cullum's growing success by awarding him the "Rising Star" award, at the 2003 ceremony in July.At the
2004 BRIT Awards , Cullum was nominated in the "British Breakthrough Act" category. He performed live in the ceremony atEarl's Court , a duet withKatie Melua ofThe Cure 's "The Lovecats ". In the2005 BRIT Awards , Cullum was nominated for two awards: "Best Male Artist" and "Best Live Act".In 2005 Cullum was nominated for a prestigiousGrammy award and, in the same year, went on to win yet another award at the BBC Jazz Awards, this time scoopingBBC Radio 2 "Artist Of The Year", as voted for by listeners of Radio 2.In 2007 Cullum won the Ronnie Scotts Jazz Award for "Best British Male"."Catching Tales"
Cullum's third major label album, entitled "
Catching Tales ", was released onSeptember 26 ,2005 , in the United Kingdom andThe Netherlands , and two weeks later in the United States, onOctober 11 . The American and French versions of "Catching Tales" do not include the track "Fascinating Rhythm", which appears on the European version.The first single to be released from the album, in the United Kingdom, was "Get Your Way", a collaboration with
Dan The Automator which used a sample from theThad Jones song 'Get Out Of My Life, Woman'. The second single released, in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, was "Mind Trick", written by Jamie and his brother,Ben Cullum .The third single from the album was the self-penned track "Photograph", which Cullum said was written on New Years Day (2005) after he found a box of old photographs.A special edition version of "
Catching Tales " was released in Europe, featuring a 20-minute documentary, including behind the scenes footage of Jamie recording the album and on the road footage, from across Europe. "Catching Tales " has also been released on double vinyl, as was the first single, "Get Your Way."Cullum collaborated with
Pharrell . They recorded various songs together and it was thought that the track titled 'Wifey' would make an appearance on "Catching Tales", but this was prevented by legal and contractual problems.Cullum's vocals finally featured on Pharrell's debut solo album, on a track titled "You Can Do It Too", though Cullum is not credited as a 'featured' artist.
Both "Catching Tales" and "Twentysomething" were produced by
Stewart Levine .Cullum toured "
Catching Tales " from the end of October 2005 to December 2006. Playing gigs in places such as: Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, South America, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Portugal, as well as returning to America no less than four times in one year, to tour extensively across the USA.Other Band Members
Since 2003 Cullum has played consistently with Geoff Gascoyne, on bass, and Sebastiaan de Krom, on drums.From Autumn 2003 until Autumn 2004 the trio was joined by
Ben Castle on saxophone, John Hoare on trumpet, Barnaby Dickinson on trombone and Malcolm MacFarlane on guitar.Sam Wedgwood (guitarist and trumpeter) later joined Cullum, on tour, for a little over a year. At the end of 2005 Cullum was joined by Tom Richards (saxophonist, occasional guitarist and percussion). Soon after that Sam Wedgwood left, to pursue his own solo musical career. At the beginning of 2006 Rory Simmons (trumpeter and guitarist) joined the band as a replacement, meaning the total number of band members (including Jamie himself) is five.Discography
Albums
*"
Heard It All Before " (1999)
*"Pointless Nostalgic " (2002) #55 UK
*"Twentysomething" (2003) #3 UK, #83 US, #2 Australia
*"Catching Tales " (2005) #4 UK, #49 US, #26 Australia, #30 Germany, #1 Mexico
*"Live at Ronnie Scott's" (2006) (exclusive for iTunes)
*"In the Mind of Jamie Cullum " (Compilation CD)Collaborations featured on other albums
*"Greatest Mistake" with
John Oates on "White People " byHandsome Boy Modeling School
*"Bittersweet" with Relax on "Puppets Among Pirates"
*"Sky High" with King James onMySpace (unreleased track)
*"One For My Baby" withToots Thielemans on "One More For The Road"
*"To..." with Geoff Gascoyne on "Songs Of The Summer"
*"God Only Knows" with Geoff Gascoyne on "Keep it to Yourself"
*"Love Won't Let Me Wait" with Geoff Gascoyne on "Keep it to Yourself"
*"Sweet Insomnia" withGwyneth Herbert on "First Songs"
*"The Road Less Travelled" withClare Teal on "The Road Less Travelled "
*"You Can Do It Too" withPharrell on "In My Mind"
*"Intermission Music" withBeady Belle on "Belvedere"
*"Superdude" with Skandouz onMySpace (unreleased track)
*"Where is Your Heart At?", composed and written byRufus Wainwright , on the soundtrack for the animated film "Meet the Robinsons Also recorded, "Give me the Simple Life on this soundtrack"
*"Grace Is Gone", composed byClint Eastwood , featured on the officialsoundtrack for the film "Grace is Gone"
*"Home Is Where It Hurts" with Camille (Singer) onMusic Hole DVDs
*"Live at Blenheim Palace" (2004)
*"A tribute to Brian Wilson" (2005) - Performes "Sail on Sailor" with Fred Martin & The Levite Camp
*"Telling Tales" (2005) - with Catching Tales Special Edition
*"Meet The Robinsons" (2007)-Performance as singing vocals for Frankie the Frog. (US)ingles
From "Pointless Nostalgic":
*"High and Dry " (2002)From "Twentysomething":
*"All At Sea" (2003) Promotional Release
*"These Are the Days"/"Frontin'" (2004) #12 UK
*"Everlasting Love " (2004) #20 UK, #35 NetherlandsFrom "Catching Tales":
*"Get Your Way" (2005) #44 UK, #25 Netherlands
*"Mind Trick" (2005) #32 UK, #26 Netherlands
*"Photograph" (2006)External links
* [http://www.jamiecullum.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/jamiecullum Official MySpace page]
* [http://www.jamiecullum.at/ Official Austrian website]
* [http://jamiecullum1.multiply.com/profile Official Multiply page]
* [http://www.pointlessnostalgic.com/ Jamie Cullum Fans Forum]
* [http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/2/18/jazz-vocals-today-two "The State of Jazz Vocals Today,"] by Ted Gioia, [http://www.jazz.com Jazz.com] , (February 2008).
* [http://www.todomusicaymas.com/musica/galerias_detalle.asp?Id=21 Jamie Cullum photographs in Todomusicaymas] Live in Kursaal (San Sebastian)
* [http://www.ir.travel.pl/ludzie/koncert%20jamy%20cullum/4.html Photo Concert in Poland 2006]
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