James was born in Belfast Northern Ireland. Although he was a city boy he was country at heart when it came to choice of music. He was influenced by artists such as Johnny Cash , Dwight Yoakam , Waylon Jennings , Elvis Presley , George Jones and many more. James first started singing at house parties at the age of 8 for family and friends and by the time he was 17 he was fronting an Elvis tribute show with a 7 piece band behind him. Although this was a successful show James never really felt it was what he wanted as he just wanted to be an Elvis fan not the man. It wasn't until his early 30s he decided to do what his heart was telling him to do and go country. So he made his first country music video performing Keith Whitley's song Don't Close Your Eyes that was aired on all Sky Tv Country Music Tv shows. After that he had a number 1 hit on the European Country Music charts with She Don't Look That Lonely To Me. Then another number 1 on the Australian and Tasmanian country music charts with Bottle Top Bars. Then a number 1 in Ireland with I Wish Every Night Was Saturday Night that was featured in the Movie A Bump Along The Way. After this James then went on RTE Celebrity goggle box with Mel Gibson , Mark Wahlberg , John Lithgow and Will Ferrell and also appeared on BB1 Keepin Er Country Tv Show and RTE1 Stetsons and Stilettos Tv Show. Recently in 2023 a song he recorded called Love Sunrise was snapped up by the Line Dancing scene around the world.