Name: James Urie
Born: July 12th, 1991
(Age: 26)Origin: San Diego, California
Years Active: 2009 – present
Genre(s): Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Progressive Rock, Electronic Rock
Occupations: Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Instrumentalist, Actor
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Violin, Drums, Organ, and Bass
Labels: Junction Records
(2010-2011), Nomad Records
(2011-2012), North Hill Records
(2012-2014), Safe Haven Records
(2015 -present)Spouse(s) Gemma Kane
(m. 2013-2014)Relatives: Matt Urie
(brother), Maddie Urie
(sister),
Associated Acts: Suburban Sunrise, Maddie Urie, Less Than Infinity, The Walls, Reported Failure, Bill Owens, Lily, Julia Volkova
Accomplishments: Fan Choice Award nominated, Chaos Award nominated, Fan Choice Award III winner (2), Goldie Award nominated, IMA nominated artist, seven time number one artist, Aphrodisiac [Festival] Headliner
2009 - 2010: [Early Career] James Urie (born July 12th, 1990) is an American musician and songwriter from San Diego, California. James began his career in
2009 being a vocalist in both bands "The Walls" and "Less Than Infinity". Both of the bands achieved very little to moderate success and eventually disbanded. Neither of the bands could reach half the success that Urie's older brother, Matt achieved while being apart of the band 'Suburban Sunrise'. After Less Than Infinity and The Walls broke up, James Urie decided to continue his dream of being a recording artist and broke off from being apart of rock bands and in turn decided to become a solo rock act. Urie reintroduced himself a soloist in
2010 and was quickly dubbed as Matt Urie's "younger sibling" in peoples eyes. He promised to make music that people loved, and enjoyed and expressed his interest in theatrical/alternative music. As months went on, James released his first body of work through his first solo recording deal with Junction Records. His debut EP entitled "Tales Of A Lost Soul". Although the EP was critically acclaimed, the theatrical rock production was not the type of sound that would light up the charts at the time. The E.P gained a cult following and no singles were released from it. Following the release of the E.P, James quieted down and lost the buzz he was gaining as he focused on recording his debut studio length album as he vowed to become a major name in music. During the year leading up to his debut single, James gained a new outlook, a new look, a new attitude and a new love for the business. He also took the time to express that he would no longer be making theatrical music, and felt more comfortable making Prog Rock, Alternative and Indie Rock music which was not heard in his E.P 'Tales Of A Lost Soul'.
2011 - 2012: [Big Break + Debut Album + Hardships & Depression]On April 4th,
2011 James released his debut solo single entitled "Dig Me A Hole". When releasing the record James stated: "When I was recording this song, not only was I singing for people who think the world is a bit messed up right now or the fact that I didn't want a typical love song or something but I also wanted to really represent every rock artist out there in the industry at this point right now my brothers band, Eric Quillington, Jason Smith.. and there's some more but there's really not a lot of us and I wanted to come on the scene not as Matt's brother but as James, someone who can make a name for himself, not with his last name. And I feel with this single everyone will soon realize who I am. Its a great song that I know a lot of people can relate to. I really hope everyone loves it because it took me a while to record the song. I wanted it to be perfect". "Dig Me A Hole" became an instant success, topping the Top 20 charts and opened up many doors for the at one time, struggling, rock artist. Later that year James teamed up with Cristina Lake to release his follow up single "Believing In Being Happy", the song achieved moderate success but was mostly overshadowed by the continued success of Dig Me A Hole. That summer, James Urie released his debut album "Climbing". The record which featured 12 tracks was a critical success but couldn't translate into a massive commercial success in which Urie had hoped. The album made it to #10 on the Chart Heat album chart and was considered a "flop" among industry execs.
However, the album did fair well in terms of longevity on the charts and was certified platinum later that year. James released one more single from the album, "I'm Not Dead" which reached as high as #7 on the charts. Following the albums era James fell into a pit of self depression brought on by the pressures of fame and trying to break out from his brothers shadow, being verbally abused by the industry for having a "flop" album, and personal insecurities. This prompted James unable to tour for his debut record. Junction Records was released from Junction Records months after citing that he had become a "liability" to make matters worse. Urie became a free agent. Many wondered the severity of James' depression and whether or not he would make it out successfully, many reached out to him but he used this time to break away from everyone. During his battle with depression James revealed that he nearly quit making music but was soon taken under the wing of Reported Failure member Vin Peters and was signed to Nomad Records shortly after. Urie regained his love for music again used songwriting as a way to self medicate and get his emotions out in a therapeutic way. James returned the year after with a brand new single and the first single from his new album.
2012 - 2013 : [Second and Third Album + New Label + Marriage]In January
2012 "Broken", which featured vocals from fellow rock act Lily and was penned with Billie Beckett gave James the chance to open up to his fans about his depression as he sung about being broken. The single became a massive success for James Urie, it reached #1 on the charts and stayed atop the chart for weeks. Many call the release of "Broken" the highlight of James Urie's career at the time. Just a month later, James released his new album "Tales From The Struggle". The album became much more of a success than Urie's previous record and topped the album chart. James's career was now on the up and up now, but he still battled with his issues and continued to fight through them and his music reflected it. Album highlight, "Anarchy Like This" was chosen as the next single and it reached #3 on the charts. James then appeared on Music Box, and Rolling Stone. He used these interviews to finally open up about his fight with depression, and raise awareness for people who do have battles with it to not give up. James performed at Total Annihilation just weeks later to a packed crowd of screaming fans. The final single taken from "Tales From The Struggle" was album cut "The Struggle" released in June 2012, this also reached #1 on the charts giving James his third number one single and second one from his second album. James then went on to win Best Male Artist and Sexiest Male at the FCA II. James then embarked on his first world tour with openers Serenity Scott and his brother Matt Urie for the "King Of Struggles Tour". Following the tour, Liberation/Nomad was brought out by Ryan Ross Hernandez and Nadia Berry and so all acts were transferred to a new label, North Hill Records.
James didn't waste anytime on recording and releasing new music. In August of 2012 he returned with a brand new single from his third studio album
"Farewell", in this record James Urie opens up about fighting depression and becoming a strong person again. The empowering record which was a far cry from his oppressive previous album continued James consistent success as he became a world renown artist. "Farewell" went on to reach the #1 position on the charts. Following the release of the single, it became very well known that James and his brother Matt became enemies, most notably due to a public dispute on twitter. Reasons for the issues between the brothers are unknown but some have stated that it stemmed from Matt being jealous over James's success that went further then his own as apart of Suburban Sunrise, other say James was upset with his brother because Matt wasn't there for James when James went through his issues and some even say James became cocky, self obsessed, and unlikable after he became a massive success causing friction between the two.
James announced that his new album would be named "The Recovery" and released it's second single, "Retaliate" in September of 2012. Retaliate saw James open up about the anger he held toward in people of his past. The rigid and intense record became one of James's highlight songs and topped both the Digital and Radio Charts. The 3rd single from the album, "Bulletproof" was released next and reached #6 on the charts. Months later, the next song released was the Scott R.H produced "Trying My Best Not To Forget" featuring Sara Daniels. During this time was when James Urie began a relationship with pop singer Gemma Kane, who he would fall in love with and get engaged to just 5 months into their relationship and just a few weeks after, they got married. James Urie teamed up with fellow rock act Julia Volkova on her hit single "The Bite" released in November 2012.
The Recovery was released on September 8th, 2013. The album was critically acclaimed and topped the charts further solidifying James Urie as one of most successful rock artists in the industry. Two other singles were released from The Recovery. and the album's final single was the fan voted "Won't Be Sleeping Alone". WBSA reached #1 on both charts giving James his sixth #1 single. After performing at The Goldies with Amy Meyer, James embarked on his second world tour "The Recovery Tour" for the remainder of 2013 and ended in February of 2014.
2014 - presentIn February of
2014, James confirmed that he had been working on a new project but it "
would be a while before it came out" since he wanted to focus on other endeavors. That same month, Gemma and James Urie shockingly split and had a divorce that settled out of court with rumors spreading that Urie had to legally pay Gemma money. Their fairy-tale of a relationship seemed to only be dark and not all of what it seemed behind closed doors due to the sudden and nasty break up these two had. After the breakup, it seemed that James's journey to break his depression took two steps back and he never really opened up about it. That same month, Urie landed the lead role for an upcoming Starz tv series entitled
"Everything's Fine" where Urie would be playing a nerdy film major student, Ronan Rabenstein. Everything's Fine got a greenlight and James was known to be a hot prospect on set, but what people really wanted was some new music. In June 2014, James released a promotional record from his upcoming album "Better Than Hell" was released without notice and saw James Urie's music take a slight darker turn again. The song became a hit reaching #3 on the charts. James went on to announce that he would be focusing on acting and other projects away from music and would come back to release his own album in "due time". James Urie appeared on The Wolverine's single "Little Fire" in August of 2014, the single went straight to #1. This would give Urie his 7th #1. Later that year in December, James was featured on Edward Barat's hit single "Someone To Watch Over Me" which reached #3 on the charts.
In April of 2015, James Urie appeared on Late Night With Jake Wilson where he opened up for the first time about his break up with Gemma, his new album and more. He also explained that new music wouldn't be released until late in the year. When asked about it, he stated: "
Yeah after the last album I wanted at least a one or two year mirror before I release the next album to focus on things outside of my own music. Since the start of my career I never really got a chance to do those things and I thought before album four, take a small break... I began my acting career, landing the role on Everything's Fine as Ronan which has been an absolute blast. I've done some production work with artists like Edward Barat, did the track with The Wolverines and took some time to really just relax with family and begin writing for the upcoming album. It was really refreshing, when I slowed things down. I thought "wow, this is quite relaxing". Now its about time that I get back in full on action. Urie is fully rested, haha".
Click here To Stream Late Night InterviewIn September of 2015, James Urie announced that new music was definitely on the horizon and could come at any moment.
MUSICEPs-2010-Broken Tie (As apart of Less Than Infinity)
And So It Begins (As apart of The Walls)
Singles-2011-Dig Me A Hole [#1]
Believing In Being Happy (feat. Cristina Lake) [#12]
-2012-I'm Not Dead [#7]
Broken ft. Lily [#1]
Anarchy Like This [#3]
The Struggle [#1]
Farewell [#1]
Retaliate [#1]
Bulletproof [#6]-2013-Trying My Best Not to Forget (feat. Sara Daniels) [Promotional]
Won't Be Sleeping Alone [#1]-2014-Better Than Hell [#3]
Little Fire (w/Wolverines) [#1]-2015-TBAALBUMS
2010 - Tales Of A Lost Soul [#12]2011 - Climbing [#10]
2012 - Tales From The Struggle [#2]
2013 - The Recovery [#1]
TOURS2012 - Tales From The Struggle Tour
2013 - The Recovery World Tour
2015 - Night Of 1000 Riffs Tour
ContactInstagram - @JamesUrie
Twitter - @JamesUrie
Facebook - James Urie
