James Bay is a musician’s musician: the UK singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer upholds traditions of timeless songcraft while confidently challenging himself and popular music in equal measure. He spikes a tried-and-true style with clever lyricism, honest confessions, and instrumental proficiency. This year, he returns with his thrilling fourth album,Changes All The Time, due on September 20th via Mercury/Republic Records. The album includes collaborations with Noah Kahan and The Lumineers on lead single “Up All Night,” and features writing collaborations with The Killers’ Brandon Flowers (“Easy Distraction”) and Holly Humberstone (“Dogfight”). On the heels of his platinum- certified 2015 debut Chaos And The Calm, Bay garnered GRAMMY® nods in the categories of “Best New Artist,” “Best Rock Album,”and “Best Rock Song” for the gold-selling single “Hold Back The River.” Meanwhile, “Let It Go” went triple-platinum. Nominated for dozens of awards, he took home two BRIT Awards, two Q Awards, and top honors at the Ivor Novello Awards and ECHO Awards. Tallying nearly 9 billion streams to date, he has performed on Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. He has notably dueted with numerous musical icons including Alicia Keys onThe Voice, was asked to join Mick Jagger while supporting The Rolling Stones at Twickenham Stadium in London, and joined Sheryl Crow on stage after performing his own set at Eric Clapton’s 2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, TX. He also notably opened for Bruce Springsteen at Hyde Park in 2023. In addition to selling out shows on four continents, Epiphone honored him with his own Limited-Edition James Bay Signature “1966” guitar. Following the success of 2018’s Electric Light, he deconstructed his sound to its bare essentials on the Oh My Messy Mind EP which to date has amassed nearly 650 million global streams. It yielded the hit “Peer Pressure” [feat. Julia Michaels], generating more than 400 million global streams to date, received critical acclaim from Time, Rolling Stone, and Billboard and the next year James opened for Ed Sheeran on his 2019 record-breaking stadium run. In 2020, James released his single “Chew On My Heart” which has hit more than 100 million streams to date, delivered a historic performance on the top of the London Eye for The Late Late Show with James Corden,performed on The Today Show, Mahogany Sessionsand a full concert on YouTube in support of #SaveOurVenues. He also created his own virtual event to share his music to fans during the pandemic, James Bay – Live At Shakespeare’s Globe which was a full concert event livestreamed at the historic venue. In 2021, he guested on Maisie Peter’s song “Funeral,” which was featured on Apple TV+’s original series “Trying: Season 2”’s soundtrack.
Bay’s 2022 LP Leap yielded fan favorites such as “One Life,” “Give Me The Reason,” and more in addition to earning acclaim. 2024 marks the 10thanniversary of Bay’s breakout song, “Let It Go.” The latter saw him vault into the Top 20 of the Hot 100 and go Top 3 on the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs Chart in addition to the Top 5 on the Year End Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart. With 3 billion-plus streams so far, the track has earned a place in Spotify’s coveted “Billions Club” and has reached 6x-platinum status. However, he only continues to look ahead with more music and touring on the horizon.
