Saul Davies (born 28 June 1965 in Liverpool) is a British musician best known as a member of the rock band

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. Davies is a multi-instrumentalist whose primary instruments are the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Career

Saul Davies was hired as a member of James in 1989, after the band's guitarist

Larry Gott James Lawrence "Larry" Gott (born 24 July 1957, Manchester) is an English musician, formerly of the Mancunian band James. He is also a designer. Music Within the band Gott mainly played guitar and provided backing vocals, but also featured on ...

saw him playing violin at the

Band On The Wall Band on the Wall is a live music venue in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. History Early history The building dates back to around 1862 when a local brewery, the McKenna Brothers, built it as the flagship pub of their operation. I ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Impressed by his abilities, Gott invited Davies to join the band at their rehearsal room the following day for an audition. Davies immediately impressed the band members, who offered him a role in the band as violinist. Davies accepted, initially as a stop-gap measure, and went on to assist with guitar and percussion on the band's 1990 album ''

Gold Mother ''Gold Mother'' is the third studio album by English rock band James. It was released on 4 June 1990 on Fontana Records. With the addition of drummer David Baynton-Power, violinist/guitarist Saul Davies, and keyboardist Mark Hunter, James rele ...

'', which was also to become the band's commercial breakthrough. Davies ended up remaining with the band throughout the 1990s, and his creative input became more prominent towards the end of the decade, particularly on the 1999 album ''

Millionaires A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short sc ...

'', most of the songs of which were developed from base tracks sketched out by Davies. His contribution was recognized in the sleeve notes for the album with bassist

Jim Glennie James Patrick Glennie (born 10 October 1963) is the bassist for and eponym of English rock band, James. He is the band's longest-serving member—having been there from the first line-up through to the present day—and now only remaining origi ...

's comment- ''"Jim Glennie would like to personally thank Saul for his work on this album over and above the call of duty."'' Davies also participated in the dance-based side-project Money, together with fellow band members

David Baynton-Power David Baynton-Power (born 29 January 1961, in Kent, England) is a musician, best known as drummer of the long-existing English rock band James. He has a recognizable and characteristic way of playing the drums, moving his sticks in a circular mo ...

and Mark Hunter. Following the departure in 2001 of the band's lead singer

Tim Booth Timothy John Booth (born 4 February 1960) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the indie rock band James, and co-wrote several of their hit singles including " Sit Down", " Come Home", and ...

, the band became inactive and Davies confirmed his own departure in two separate articles throughout 2002. With the band's reformation in 2007, Davies was confirmed as part of the reformed line-up and joined the band on their reunion tour in April of that year, then played on their comeback album '' Hey Ma'' released in April 2008, then released by two mini-albums, '' The Night Before'' and '' The Morning After'' in 2010, then by 2014's thirteenth album ''

La Petite Mort (; "the little death") is an expression that means "the brief loss or weakening of consciousness" and in modern usage refers specifically to "the sensation of post orgasm as likened to death." The first attested use of the expression in English ...

'' and recently, the 2016's current album ''

Girl at the End of the World ''Girl at the End of the World'' is the 14th studio album by British rock band James. It was released on 11 March 2016, through BMG. The band spent three weeks in the Scottish Highlands working on new material for their album. Re-enlisting prod ...

''. Davies is known among James fans for his raucous stage persona and his skill at provoking audience members into exuberant singalongs.

References

External links

* 1965 births Living people James (band) members English rock guitarists English violinists People from Oldham Musicians from Manchester 21st-century violinists {{England-musician-stub