As a child, his grandfather taught him composition and how to manipulate the tuning of piano strings, whilst his grandmother on the other side used to dabble in improvisations.

[citation needed] At the age of 11 he started writing his own compositions inspired by a love of Ludwig Van Beethoven and Claude Debussy, his favorite composers.

From his parents’ garden he was also able to overhear his older neighbour, who had set up a Acid House pirate radio station and this also inspired him in his early compositions.

[9][10] In 2008, Heather nearly died after he was involved in a road traffic accident with a cement mixer while cycling, leaving him in a coma and in intensive care.

"[11][1] In 2023, James Heather worked with the T. S. Eliot award winning poet Roger Robinson, alongside Penelope Trappes and Specimens to write Hidden Angel (Hackney Road Studio Session) on the 15th anniversary of the accident, it was a rework of his own solo piano composition Hidden Angel, which was a letter of forgiveness in musical form to the Cement Mixer driver.

[19] The album received reviews from The Line Of Best Fit, The Arts Desk, Loud and Quiet, Mixmag, Uncut, Exclaim, Mojo and others.

The album contained a selection of tracks from Modulations: EP 1 and Stories From Far Away On Piano, and includes reworks by DJ Seinfeld, Mary Lattimore, and Sarah Davachi, and new additional string quartet versions by Heather himself.

[7][33][34] On 9 June 2022, Heather delivered a piano performance, premiered/hosted by Mahogany Sessions, a YouTube channel, combining two songs from his latest album, Invisible Forces, at the nightclub, Printworks warehouse in London, UK.