James

The Manchester band fronted by Tim Booth, whose "Sit Down" was a UK number 2 in 1991.

Whalley Range to Factory

Paul Gilbertson persuaded Jim Glennie to buy a bass and form a band, and Gavan Whelan joined on drums; after names including Model Team International and Tribal Outlook, they became James in August 1982, named after Glennie. Tim Booth, born in Bradford in 1960, had come to Manchester in 1981 to study drama at the university; he was noticed dancing at a university disco and joined as a dancer and backing vocalist in 1982, then became the lead singer. Their first big night was at the Haçienda on November 17, 1982, with New Order, filmed for the 1983 Factory video A Factory Outing. The Jimone EP, recorded in August 1983 at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, came out on Factory.

Larry Gott replaced Gilbertson in 1985, and the band supported the Smiths on the Meat Is Murder tour that spring. They left Factory for Sire in 1986 and made Stutter (July 1986, UK 68) and Strip-mine (September 1988, UK 90) before leaving Sire. In November 1988 Whelan was asked to leave after a fight with Booth on stage and David Baynton-Power replaced him; in 1989 Saul Davies, Mark Hunter and Andy Diagram made them a seven-piece. The live album One Man Clapping, recorded at the Moles club in Bath and funded by a bank loan, came out on Rough Trade in 1989.

Fontana and the 1990s

Gold Mother (June 4, 1990, Fontana) was recorded in mid-1989 at Out of the Blue in Manchester and The Windings in Wales, and reached 16 in the UK on release and 2 after a 1991 reissue that swapped in a re-recorded "Sit Down". Seven (February 17, 1992) reached 2 and produced "Sound" (UK 9) and "Born of Frustration" (13). Laid (September 27, 1993) was produced with Brian Eno and reached 3 in the UK and 72 in the US; Wah Wah (1994) was improvised jams mixed by Eno. Gott left in the mid-1990s, Adrian Oxaal joined, and The Best Of reached number 1 in 1998. They won the 1991 Silver Clef for best newcomer, and "Sit Down" was nominated for the 1992 Ivor Novello. Booth left in 2001, after Pleased to Meet You, and a farewell tour was recorded for Getting Away with It... Live (2002).

Gott and Glennie approached Booth about a reunion in 2005 and Gott persuaded him in 2006, and it was announced in January 2007. Since then came Hey Ma (2008), The Night Before and The Morning After (2010), La Petite Mort (2014), Girl at the End of the World (2016, UK 2), Living in Extraordinary Times (2018), All the Colours of You (2021), Be Opened by the Wonderful (2023) and Yummy (April 12, 2024), their first UK number 1 studio album. A documentary, James: Getting Away with It, premiered in Manchester in 2026, per their site. Wikipedia credits them with more than 25 million albums worldwide as of 2010.