James was raised in Sheffield, England, and first began cultivating his musical interests participating in his school concert band and big band as a bassist. Meanwhile, he took home vinyls of Peter Gabriel, early Elton John, Robert Fripp, Talking Heads and Paul Simon, and began producing his own home-made albums on the side. Within time, he began showcasing his songs on the school stage, performing “interpretive dance” to his under-rehearsed rock numbers in front of bewildered peers and teachers, and running the gauntlet of early-morning assembly performances.

At the University of York, James became involved in the university’s drama and musical theatre scene, performing in everything from Ayckbourne to Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, and risking arrest for indecent exposure in front of nearly 2,000 people in 'The Full Monty'. However, it was James’s performance as the title role in 'TONY! The Blair Musical' at the Edinburgh Festival that truly stuck; and, after sell-out performances at two consecutive festivals, the shadow of Tony Blair became hard to shake. The play recently secured itself in posterity, in the Telegraph’s piece ‘Five Great Political Plays’. At university, James also started collaborating with student filmmakers, and nurturing a passion for film music.