James Billett

“Freedom has been at the heart of what I have always been searching for in music,” shares singer-songwriter James Billett. “The journey has been a long one, but this has just added to the excitement and my drive to get this music out and connect with real people.”

At 18 James signed to Warner Chappell Publishing, and then Elton John heard James’ music, who immediately picked up the phone and told James “If you don’t sign to me I’ll kill myself.” Less than a week later James found himself having Christmas dinner with Elton John and was even given a piano. James was then quickly shoehorned into the major label machine which would mark the start of a turbulent 4 years.
 
James, becoming increasingly disillusioned with the whole process, walked away from the dizzying major label world to get back to basics as an artist and a musician. 
 
Parallel to his musical aspirations, had been James’ boyhood dream of becoming a pilot, just like his Father. At 17, he was diagnosed with an eye condition that, at the time, was a career nonstarter. After a number of eye surgeries and a lot of red tape, James was finally given the all clear to start training to be a pilot. Fast forward to 2019 and James is now established as an airline pilot, and for the past couple of years has been finishing off his debut album whilst flying.