His father would play Cat Stevens, Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan, whilst his sister Emma sang and toured with a musical in Ireland.

Later that year, he was invited to open for chart-toppers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith on their respective tours, and released singles including "Bitter Pill" from his full-length studio debut of the same name.

[citation needed] James released his debut album and homage to Alanis Morissette Bitter Pill on 20 November 2015 through Warner Ireland.

[7] In January 2016 James appeared on the BBC One Show, C'est A Vous and RTÉ and was included in Buzzfeed's[8] and The Sun's 'Ones to Watch 2016' lists.

On 21 January 2016, James set off on his debut European headline tour, starting with three sold out back-to-back dates at the Olympia Theatre in Ireland.

James' cover of David Bowie's "Changes" relaunched the new Virgin Radio UK at 11 am GMT on 30 March 2016, he later performed live and was interviewed for the show.

[12] On 7 October 2016, James sold out Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and he headlined his first arena show at 3Arena on 9 December in Dublin and played to 15,000 fans.

The Mark McCabe remix of "Nervous (The Ooh Song)" has been streamed over 170 million times to date and certified double platinum in Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Holland.