Nervous - Gavin James
As we approach the end of the year our next LCM featured artist is one of Dublin's finest, the multi-award winning Gavin James. We have been big fans of Gavin's music for a few years now and have been following his progress closely. It would be safe to say that Gavin is having a great year so far. We think he has both a wonderfully pure vocal and an excellent songwriting ability and style. Our LCM #TrackOfTheDay is the fantastic 'Nervous' taken from his 'Bitter Pill' debut album released in 2016. It's well worth adding to your music collection.
If you would like to see Gavin live, he is headlining on the 9th June at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.
We first met Gavin about 4 years ago when he played a surprise set at the World's End, Finsbury Park. Already multi-award winning, in March 2013 and March 2016, Gavin won the Choice Music Prize 'Irish Song of the Year' award. In July 2015, it was also announced he would be a supporting act for Kodaline, Tori Kelly, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran on their tours. Gavin released his excellent debut album Bitter Pill on 20 November 2015 through Warner Ireland. It was awarded Platinum certificate for sales in Ireland. Bitter Pill was released worldwide on 11 March 2016. Spotify have announced Gavin to be a 'Spotify Spotlight Artist of 2016'.
Gavin was born in Dublin and grew up in a household surrounded by music. James' dad would play Cat Stevens, Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan whilst his sister Emma sang and toured with a musical in Ireland. The performing talents in his family go back to Gavin's great grandparents who were opera singers and his granddad who was a stand-up comedian and whistler.
Gavin began playing music in a rock band at the age of 14 and writing his own songs. The rock band was short lived, however with Gavin continuing to perform solo, playing numerous gigs for years and building his audience. By age 21 he was focusing on his songwriting and playing open mic nights. In 2013, Gavin's independently released single 'Say Hello' won the Meteor Choice Award for 'Song of The Year. By 2015,' Gavin had signed deals with Sony in Europe and Capitol Records in the US.
Work began on his debut album Bitter Pill album in 2015. It was recorded in London and LA with Producers Fraser T. Smith and Cam Blackwood. Gavin commented about the album, "I've always wanted to hear how my songs would sound properly produced, but I didn't want them to lose the edge they had live. We re-coded the song 'Bitter Pill' first and once we found the sound for that the rest was easy."