James Taylor-Watts (born 27 October 1997), better known as James TW, is an English singer-songwriter. His single " When You Love Someone" peaked at number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Pop Songs chart.

Early life

Taylor-Watts was born in England, the son of Sarah and Richard Taylor-Watts. He was named after

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

, one of his parents' favourite musicians. Taylor-Watts' father, who played guitar in a wedding band as a hobby, once found a young James playing on the drum kit at home. Shortly thereafter, the band's drummer wasn't able to make it to a gig. So the band had a decision to make: either let 10 year-old Taylor-Watts play or cancel the gig. Taylor-Watts played that evening and has been performing on a regular basis ever since. He picked up guitar at 12 years old and started playing piano the following year. In 2010, Taylor-Watts started hi
YouTube channel
at 12 years old.

Career

2014–2016: ''Just a Number'' and ''First Impressions''

In 2014, Taylor-Watts self-released the EP ''Just a Number'', which rose to number 6 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. In early 2015,

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...

, an artist discovered on social media, found Taylor-Watts on YouTube and praised him on Twitter. Mendes' label,

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, then noticed Taylor-Watts and he signed with them shortly thereafter. On 30 October 2015, Taylor-Watts released his debut single "Black & Blue". On 19 February 2016, he released a music video for his single, " When You Love Someone", through

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. The song reached over 60 million

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

streams and peaked at No. 28 on ''Billboard''s Adult Pop Songs chart. On 15 April 2016, Taylor-Watts released his debut EP titled ''First Impressions'', featuring five original songs as well as a cover of " Torn" by

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera '' Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing car ...

, which earned 17 million Spotify streams and peaked at 15 on the Spotify Viral 50 chart. Taylor-Watts was the sole opening act on the sold out

Shawn Mendes World Tour The Shawn Mendes World Tour was the second concert tour by Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, promoting his debut studio album '' Handwritten'' (2015). The tour began in New York City at Radio City Music Hall on March 5, 2016, and it concluded in Ma ...

. On 9 September 2016, he released a cover of

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley are an American soul duo, composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, '' St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contained their hit single "Crazy", which peaked at number two ...

's "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

2017–present: ''Chapters'' and ''Heartbeat Changes''

On 23 January 2017, Taylor-Watts performed "When You Love Someone" on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

''. He released the single "Ex" on 17 February 2017 while premiering the video via ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' on the same day. In February, he was named the opening act on the European leg of Shawn Mendes' Illuminate World Tour with dates from April to June 2017. Taylor-Watts released a new single called "You & Me" on 18 January 2019. The song, alongside "When You Love Someone", "Say Love" and "Soldier", was included on his debut album ''Chapters'', which was released the following April. Taylor-Watts announced in March 2021 that he would be releasing the single "Butterflies" on 19 March 2021. In September, he released the EP ''Heartbeat Changes (Part 1)'', followed by his second full-length album ''Heartbeat Changes'' on 10 June 2022. The album comprises the songs from the EP plus seven new tracks.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:TW, James 1997 births Living people English male singer-songwriters People from Barford, Warwickshire 21st-century English male singers Island Records artists