Jamie Cullum

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Jamie Cullum

Background information
Born 20 August 1979 (1979-08-20) (age 28)
Romford, Essex, England
Genre(s) Pop, jazz-pop, crossover
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, drummer
Instrument(s) Singing, piano, guitar, Stomp Box, drums
Years active 1999–present
Label(s) Candid, Verve
Website www.jamiecullum.com

Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English pop and jazz-pop singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, and drummer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Cullum was born at Romford Hospital in Essex, and educated at the independent fee-paying Grittleton House School and the sixth form at Sheldon School. Both are near Chippenham in Wiltshire. His mother, Yvonne, is a secretary of Anglo-Burmese origin, whose family settled in Wales after Burma's independence; his father, John Cullum, worked in finance. His paternal grandfather was a British Army officer, while his paternal grandmother was a Jewish refugee from Prussia who sang in Berlin nightclubs; Cullum has said that he sees her as his "cultural icon". He was brought up in Hullavington, Wiltshire but currently lives in North West London. He is noted for his diminutive stature. Jamie is 5 feet 4 inches tall and takes a size UK 7 shoe.

[edit] 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 the University of Reading in 2001, Cullum released a best-selling album, Pointless Nostalgic, which stirred interest from Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg. (Cullum made his first television appearance on Parkinson's BBC chat show and was the last musician to perform on the Michael 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 to Tom 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 an effect pedal for guitars), made from a small wooden block. The stompbox is used to amplify a musician's tapping foot. Jamie found this in Australia and uses it to enhance upbeat and fast-paced songs such as Seven Nation Army originally by the White Stripes and "Gold Digger", originally by Kanye West. He is also often found using a looping machine. This plays a heavy part in Cullum's versions of Seven Nation Army and Teardrop by Massive Attack. Cullum is also often found beatboxing at nearly every gig.

As well as White Stripes and Kanye West, Cullum has performed work by Massive Attack, Pussycat Dolls, Radiohead,Gnarls Barkley, Elton John, 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 in jazz 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 2006 Playboy Jazz Festival. On the April 29, 2006, Cullum played his biggest ever crowd on Queensday in The Netherlands.

[edit] 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 at Earl's Court, a duet with Katie Melua of The Cure's "The Lovecats". In the 2005 BRIT Awards, Cullum was nominated for two awards: "Best Male Artist" and "Best Live Act". In 2005 Cullum was nominated for a prestigious Grammy award and, in the same year, went on to win yet another award at the BBC Jazz Awards, this time scooping BBC 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".

[edit] Catching Tales

Cullum's third major label album, entitled Catching Tales, was released on September 26, 2005, in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, and two weeks later in the United States, on October 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 the Thad 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 Williams. 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 Williams'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.

[edit] 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 Mcfarlane 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.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Collaborations featured on other albums

[edit] DVDs

  • Live at Blenheim Palace (2004)
  • Telling Tales (2005) - with Catching Tales Special Edition

[edit] Singles

From Pointless Nostalgic:

From Twentysomething:

  • "All At Sea" (2003) Promotional Release
  • "These Are the Days"/"Frontin'" (2004) #12 UK
  • "Everlasting Love" (2004) #20 UK, #35 Netherlands

From Catching Tales:

  • "Get Your Way" (2005) #44 UK, #25 Netherlands
  • "Mind Trick" (2005) #32 UK, #26 Netherlands
  • "Photograph" (2006)

[edit] External links