Jimmy James is the stage name of James A. Fyke (born June 27, 1959), an American musician. He is a

multi instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

and a singer-songwriter.

Early life, family and education

James is from

Colonia, New Jersey Colonia is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

in 1981. In college, he was president of honorary music fraternity

Kappa Kappa Psi Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity (, colloquially referred to as KKPsi), is a fraternity for college and university band members in the United States. It was founded on November 27, 1919, on Thanksgiving Day, at Oklahoma Agricul ...

Career

James originally played the bass in the rock band

Tommy Tutone Tommy Tutone is an American power pop band, known for its 1981 hit "867-5309/Jenny", which peaked at #4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Though some people consider the band to be a one-hit wonder, it did reach the Top 40 the year before with "An ...

, later switching to guitar and drums and performing the role of band leader. He has played bass with

Animotion Animotion is an American synth-pop band from Los Angeles, California, best known for the songs " Obsession", "Let Him Go", "I Engineer", and " Room to Move". Formed in 1983 from the remnants of a retro science-fiction band called Red Zone, th ...

, keyboards with

Mike Tramp Michael Trempenau (born 14 January 1961), better known as Mike Tramp, is a Danish singer best known for his work with the glam metal band White Lion. Since 1998, he has also released several solo albums. In 2012, Tramp went on a solo acoustic to ...

(White Lion), and guitar with

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also ...

featuring Brian Howe. James has written rock music shows for theme parks such as

Busch Gardens Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. The original park is in Tampa, Florida, and the second park is in Williamsburg, Virginia. There were also previously B ...

, Opryland,

Fiesta Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known simply as Fiesta Texas, is a theme park located in Northwest San Antonio. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera master-planned development and district as the first business in that development. S ...

and for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. He has performed with acts that include Fabian,

The Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing ...

, The Marvellettes, and

Lou Christie Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco (born February 19, 1943), known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American pop and soft rock singer-songwriter known for several hits in the 1960s, including his 1966 US chart-topper "Lightnin' Strikes" and 1969 ...

. He has performed solo acoustic guitar throughout Europe, supporting acts such as

Kip Winger Charles Frederick Kip Winger (born June 21, 1961) is an American bass guitarist and singer, active as a member of the rock band Winger and as a solo artist. He initially gained notability as a member of Alice Cooper's band, contributing bass an ...

and Eric Martin ( Mr. Big). Additionally, James has had a solo singer-songwriter career.

Product endorsements

James has product endorsements with

Orange Amplifiers Orange Music Electronic Company is an English amplifier manufacturing company, noted for their products' distinctive sound and the bright orange Tolex-like covering of their heads and speaker cabinets. The company was founded in 1968 by Cliff ...

Marshall Amplifiers Marshall is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, drums and bongos. The company also owns a record label called Marshall Records. It was founded in Lond ...

, Ampeg Amplifiers,

Gibson Guitars Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gibso ...

, Kubicki basses, Hammond organs, Rick Turner guitars and Clayton

guitar pick A guitar pick (American English) is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material—such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, tagua, or stone. They ...

Personal life

Jimmy James resides in Tampa, Florida.

Solo albums

* ''All Talk / No Action'' (1999) * ''Solace in the Sun'' (2015) * ''80's Remaster'' (2021)

Collaborations

* ''80's Hits Stripped'' (2005) * ''Santa I Got Your Number''

(2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Jimmy 1959 births Living people Guitarists from Florida Songwriters from New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey American male guitarists People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey University of Tampa alumni American male songwriters