James Ash (born Jamie Graham Appleby; 10 June 1973), is an English-born Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and keyboardist of Australian electro-rock group

Rogue Traders Rogue Traders is an Australian electronic rock band formed in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in 2002 by mainstay James Ash on keyboards. In 1989, Ash met fellow original member Steve Davis in London while both were working as DJs. B ...

, where he plays the keyboard and guitar. Ash was born in

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west of ...

, England and his early schooling was at

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

Gardens,

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

and then Ashfold School in Buckinghamshire. He and his brother Gary then moved to

Langwarrin Langwarrin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Langwarrin recorded a population of 23,588 at the . Langwarrin is bound ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia in 1982. The move only lasted 18 months, however, and the boys returned to the United Kingdom. Education continued at Paignton College,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

– then Cheam High,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. Ash moved back to Australia in 1988 for one year and undertook Year 11 at Sandringham Secondary College in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Ash began writing music in 1989 on a

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

. Soon after returning to the United Kingdom in 1989, James met long-term collaborator Steve Davis who introduced him to Dance Music and DJing. Meanwhile, James completed his education at

Carshalton College South Thames Colleges Group (STCG) is a large further education institution operating four colleges in south-west London: South Thames College, Kingston College, Merton College, and Carshalton College. The four main campuses are in Wandsworth, ...

, Carshalton in 1992 and finally emigrated back once again to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Ash joined Melbourne community based radio station

Hitz FM HITZ FM is a privately owned and a commercial radio station in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The station is owned and run by the media group company Multimedia Group Limited. They are one of the top radio stations in Ghana who are well vested in ...

in 1993 as an on-air announcer. He began DJing in clubs in late 1993. Ash's first proper DJ gig was at

venue Lazar's and was acquired after he lied about his skills as a nightclub DJ. He had actually never DJ'ed in a nightclub before. Ash got dragged off after just ten minutes by the manager who told him he was rubbish. He convinced the manager to give him another try next week and came into the venue during the daytimes to practise. Ash has been an active member of Australia's DJ fraternity since 1994, and has held residencies at most of Melbourne's leading clubs over the years. Ash's first record released was ''Be With Me'' under the name Faith in Technology through Colossal Records. He quickly followed this up with ''Thunderchild'' under the moniker Thunderchild, released through leading Australian Dance label, Vicious Vinyl. Since 1994 Ash has released over forty remixes and original productions under names including: Faith In Technology, Thunderchild, Elan, Union State and Rogue Traders. In 1998 Ash turned 25 and moved to Melbourne dance radio station Kiss FM where he remained for the next few years. In 2000 Ash and long-term collaborator Steve Davis changed the name of their production partnership from Union State to Rogue Traders. In November 2008 after having enjoyed the success of two hit Rogue Traders albums and while working on the fourth Rogue Traders album, Ash released a dance song "Son of 91" on

TV Rock Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

's record label, making this track the first Ash had released under his own name. The track is a throwback to late eighties to early nineties dance music.

Personal life

James is married to singer Melinda Appleby (née Richards) who appeared on the first Rogue Traders album ''

We Know What You're Up To ''We Know What You're Up To'' is the debut studio album by Rogue Traders. It was released by Vicious Grooves, Virgin in Australia on 5 May 2003 (see 2003 in music). After disappointing sales and poor publicity, Rogue Traders was dropped from th ...

'' and continued to contribute to the writing of the following Rogue Traders albums.

Awards and nominations

APRA Award

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Dance Work of the Year nomination for "Don't You Wanna Feel" written by Jamie Appleby, Steven Davis,

Natalie Bassingthwaighte Natalie Bassingthwaighte (; born 1 September 1975) is an Australian recording artist, actress, and Celebrity, television personality. Born and raised in Wollongong, New South Wales, she began her career in musical theatre. She later pursued an ...

, Dougal Drummond.

References

External links

Rogue Traders official siteRoguesonline.com: A Rogue Traders fansiteRogue Traders Official Forum, which James frequents Rogue Traders official Myspace site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ash, James 1973 births APRA Award winners Living people English DJs English keyboardists Musicians from Windsor, Berkshire English emigrants to Australia Rogue Traders members Musicians from Melbourne