James Bay

James Bay is a British singer-songwriter from Hitchin, born in 1990. He grew up listening to classic rock and blues, with Led Zeppelin, Jeff Buckley, and Bob Dylan among his early influences. That grounding comes through in his own music, which tends toward soulful melodies and straightforward emotional delivery.

His debut album 'Chaos and the Calm' arrived in 2015 and included the single 'Hold Back the River,' which became a hit. A second album, 'Electric Light,' followed in 2018 and leaned into more electronic and R&B textures. He has also released songs like 'Peer Pressure' with Julia Michaels and 'Chasing Stars' with Marshmello and Alesso.

In 2014, Bay was diagnosed with a vocal cord polyp, which required therapy and threatened his singing voice. He worked through it and kept recording. His music often deals with vulnerability and heartbreak in plain terms, and he performs with a band that includes drummer Adam Craft, bassist Paul Wilson, and guitarists Oliver Lee and Sam Genders.