In 2013 James won a Brit Award for co-writing the British Single of the Year Waiting All Night, performed by Rudimental and Ella Eyre; this became his first UK Number 1.

It wasn’t long before he co-wrote another UK chart-topper, Blame, this time for Calvin Harris and his younger brother John Newman. The song was a massive hit in several countries including the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Mexico.

Yorkshire-born Newman has worked with many famous artists over the years, including Ed Sheeran who recorded the vocals for Lay It All On Me, a certified platinum single in the UK and US. The singer-songwriter has also been nominated for a Grammy twice, co-writing Coping from Toni Braxton’s album Sex & Cigarettes, and Let ‘Em Talk from Kesha’s album Rainbow.

At the beginning of 2020, James recorded his previous Eurovision entry My Last Breath in Scotland while he was staying on a loch with fellow songwriters Ed Drewett, Iain James and Adam Argyle. James released his debut EP The Things We Do in Summer 2020 and ended the year with another new collaboration with Armin Van Buuren, Slow Lane.

James has two pet house rabbits: Brick and Wilma.