Brett James

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Australian football player of the same name, see Brett James (footballer).

Brett James
James in 2015
James in 2015
Background information
Birth nameBrett James Cornelius[1]
Born (1968-06-05) June 5, 1968 (age 55)
OriginColumbia, Missouri, US
GenresCountry
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1995–1998, 2002–present
LabelsCareer/Arista Nashville

Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American

Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists.[2] Signed to Career Records (a division of Arista Nashville) as a solo artist in 1995, James charted three singles
and released a self-titled debut album that year. He returned to Arista as a recording artist in 2002, releasing two more singles.

Since the early 2000s, James has become known primarily as a songwriter for other country and pop music artists. Among his compositions is

Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. His writers' credits also include number-one hits for Jessica Andrews, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Rodney Atkins, and Jason Aldean
.

Singing career

James was born in

Sigma Chi Fraternity, and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He attended medical school for a time in the early 1990s, but dropped out to pursue a musical career as a recording artist on Career Records, a subsidiary of Arista Nashville, in 1995. That year, he released his self-titled debut album, which included the charting singles "Female Bonding," "If I Could See Love" and "Worth the Fall."[3] Also included on this album was "Wake Up and Smell the Whiskey", which was co-written and later released as a single by Dean Miller
in 1997.

In addition, he appeared on two compilation albums issued by Arista Nashville. The first of these was 1996's Star of Wonder: A Country Christmas, on which he sang "

Spike.[5] In 1998, James and Tammy Graham were both dropped from Career Records when it merged with Arista Nashville.[6]

James returned to his singing career in the early 2000s. After declining to join the band Sixwire,[7] he re-signed with Arista Nashville and began working with producer Dann Huff.[8] Although he twice charted in the top 40 of the Hot Country Songs charts with "Chasing Amy" and "After All", he never released a full album.[3]

Songwriting career

In 1998, James was at a low point: he had left medical school at the University of Oklahoma after one year to go to Nashville to make a career, but after nine months of waiting tables and attending many open mic nights, he had not had much success, and he was dropped from his recording and publishing deals. James thought he was in the wrong business, according to entertainment writer David Ross.[9] James met with producer Mark Bright who agreed to sign him for very little money to Bright's new publishing company, "Teracel Music", as its first and only writer.[10] SIx weeks into the agreement, James was re-accepted to medical school and decided to go back. Bright asked him if he would continue to write songs anyway, to satisfy the one-year agreement, and James promised to write every third day. He kept his promise, later saying, "It was a big creative shift—letting go of the dream of being a big star and just trying to write some cool music."[9] He wrote many songs including "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Cowboy Casanova" for Teracel, and his songs were recorded by artists such as Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Jessica Andrews, Martina McBride and later Carrie Underwood. Within the year's contract with Teracel, James had a hot streak of 33 songs to be recorded by major artists. In 2000, James quit school for a final time.[11] The dean of the medical school agreed with James that his success as a songwriter was undeniable and wished him well, saying, "You have to go and do this ... but you can't ever come back".[9]

His singles for other artists in the early 2000s included the number-one hits "

The Truth" and Chris Young's "The Man I Want to Be". ASCAP named James their country songwriter of the year in 2006 and again in 2010. Non-country artists who have recorded his works include Kelly Clarkson, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi and Paulina Rubio. James also co-wrote American Idol season 10 winner Scotty McCreery's debut single "I Love You This Big
".

In 2008, James also began working as a record producer, with his production credits including Gracin's We Weren't Crazy, Kristy Lee Cook's Why Wait,[13] a re-release of Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album, Jessica Simpson's Do You Know and Kip Moore's Up All Night.

Songs written by Brett James

James in a USO Show at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in 2015
Main article: List of songs written by Brett James

James' songwriting credits include twenty six Number One hits. Besides these, he has co-written several other Top 10 country hits, including cuts by Rascal Flatts, Josh Gracin, Sara Evans, Tim McGraw, and others.

Discography

Albums

Title Album details
Brett James
  • Release date: September 12, 1995
  • Label: Career Records
  • Format: CD,
    cassette

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
US Country
[3]
1995 "Female Bonding"[A] 60 Brett James
"If I Could See Love" 68
"Worth the Fall" 73
2002 "Chasin' Amy" 34 —
2003 "After All" 39
Notes
  • A^ "Female Bonding" also peaked at number 89 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.[14]

Music videos

Year Video
1995 "Female Bonding"
"If I Could See Love"

References

  1. ASCAP
    database
  2. ^ "Brett James/Credits". allmusic.com. AllMusic (RhythmOne Group). Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2
    .
  4. ^ Morris, Edward (July 4, 1996). "Young at Heart". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on September 10, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  5. ^ Phillips, Carroll (March 26, 1997). "TNN's "Peace in Valley" blends top acts, gospel". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  6. ^ "Arista Nashville Trims Roster". Yahoo! Music. March 13, 1998. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  7. ^ Stark, Phyllis (June 13, 2002). "Sixwire in the spotlight". Billboard. p. 15. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  8. ^ Price, Deborah Evans (April 13, 2002). "Reviews". Billboard. p. 18.
  9. ^ a b c Ross, David M. (February 1, 2016). "Brett James: Follow The Music, Follow Your Heart". nekst.biz. David M. Ross. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  10. ^ McCall, Michael (July 7, 2013). "Interview: Mark Bright". countrymusichalloffame.org. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  11. ^
    ASCAP
    . Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  12. ^ "Brett James — Grammy Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  13. ^ ""Idol" Kristy Lee Cook Signs With Arista Nashville, Again". Rolling Stone. July 1, 2008. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  14. ^ "RPM Country Tracks for August 21, 1995". RPM. Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brett James.
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