James Arthur

Middlesborough-born singer James Arthur started writing and recording songs when he was just 15. Between 2005 and 2011, he was active in bands such as Moonlight Drive, Cue The Drama, Save Arcade and Emerald Skye.

In the early ’10s, Arthur also started uploading his solo music to SoundCloud and YouTube including an album called Sins By The Sea.

He came to fame by winning the 2012 series of The X-Factor with knockout performances of songs like LMFAO’s Sexy And I Know It, Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You and Alicia Keys’ Fallin’.

Immediately after winning the show, Arthur released a cover version of Impossible by Barbadian singer Shontelle, which he’d sung in the final. It reached No.1 on the singles charts in the UK and Ireland, as well as broke into the top 10 in more than 20 other countries

In 2013, Arthur was signed by Simon Cowell’s Syco label. Later that year he released his self-titled debut studio album, which included Impossible, You’re Nobody ’Til Somebody Loves You and collaborations with Emeli Sandé and Chasing Grace. It debuted at No.2 on the UK albums chart.

Shortly after its release, he found himself immersed in various controversies that saw him part ways with Syco. He self-released the mixtape All The World’s A Stage in 2014 and unveiled the track Promise on YouTube in 2015.

Following the chart-topping release of his lead single Say You Won’t Let Go in September 2016, Arthur resigned with Syco and his sophomore album Back From The Edge arrived a month later. It reached No.1 on the UK albums chart and went multi-platinum worldwide.

In 2017, Arthur collaborated with Machine Gun Kelly on Go For Broke and was a guest vocalist on Rudimental’s single Sun Comes Up. In addition, he published his autobiography Back To The Boy.

Arthur recorded a duet called Rewrite The Stars with Anne-Marie for The Greatest Showman: Reimagined, a re-recording of film’s original soundtrack, in 2018.

Preceded by the single Naked, his third album, 2019's YOU, boasted the hits Falling Like The Stars and Empty Space, alongside the title track featuring Travis Barker from Blink-182 and Unconditionally featuring Adam Lazzara from Taking Back Sunday. In 2019, he also released the feel-good survival ode Treehouse with rapper Ty Dolla $ign and rising star Shotty Horroh.

In 2021, Arthur unveiled the lead single September and announced his fourth album It’ll All Make Sense In The End would arrive on 5 November 2021. He also confirmed a huge UK tour for March 2022 to support it.