Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullumis an English jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Although he is primarily a vocalist/pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth20 August 1979
classical discourage
When I was at school, I wanted to play a piano, and they said, 'No, that's for the classical students.' There's always been this air around pianos, which can very often discourage a young person from having a go.
beautiful believe intense kids life past
One of the beautiful things about having kids is I had no idea how much it will make you look into yourself and who you are and what you believe in and what your past was like and all that kind of stuff. I think it's made me really look at life in a much more intense way.
ages catching drums piano quickly sit
I sit around for ages waiting for inspiration. Then when I get an idea, I want to go with it and get something as quickly as possible. It's like catching a fly in a bottle. I'll play with drums for a bit, then the piano for a bit, play the guitar.
babies tips unless
Don't give tips to friends who are about to have babies unless they ask!
english near nowhere
'Cullum' is Scottish, but I'm nowhere near Scottish. My mother is Burmese, and my father is of German, Jewish, English ancestry.
both families family grow loving lucky meet older realise stable unstable
As I grow older and meet more and more people, I realise how lucky I am to have had a stable family environment. Both my parents had loving families but unstable upbringings, so they wanted us to have a more stable situation.
allowed animated bands fairly played rock stuff sure whether
See, in the rock bands and stuff I was in, I'd always been a fairly animated performer, but when I played jazz, I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to do that, you know?
almost concerts fell heavy love monsters people surprised
A lot of people are surprised by my love of heavy metal. I fell in love with heavy metal almost before any other genre. One of the first concerts I went to was a Donnington Monsters Of Rock concert.
behaving believing change fame famous hundred means million records shows tv
You're only famous in the eyes of others. Inside, you're still the same, and not a hundred million records or TV shows can change that. I think the only pitfall of fame is believing that it means something, and behaving like that.
bare bones demands middle mostly studio tame time wander
Now I have other demands on my time that are not flexible, I just can't wander into the studio at 2 A.M. like I used to. If I have an idea in the middle of the night, I will go and get the bare bones down, but mostly you can learn to tame it to your needs.
gigs liverpool lovely oh
Oh yes, we've had some lovely gigs in the Liverpool area. They've been great.
love-is playing-music pure-love
My pure love is playing music.
paper trouble plenty
I get into plenty of trouble. It just doesn't seem to get picked up by the papers.
magic looks ordinary
When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life, I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time.