James Louis McCartney was born at Avenue Clinic in St John's Wood, London on September 12, 1977.

On 17 April 1998, in Tucson, Arizona, James, along with his father and sisters, was at his mother's side when she died from breast cancer, which had been diagnosed in 1995.

Later that year, he graduated from Bexhill College, near his home in East Sussex, where he pursued studies in A-level Art and Sculpture.

James has played guitar and drums on some of his father's solo albums, including Flaming Pie (1997) and Driving Rain (2001), as well as co-writing a few songs.

[4] On Driving Rain, he co-wrote the songs "Spinning on an Axis" and "Back in the Sunshine Again" with his father, and played percussion on the former track and guitar on the latter.

He also plays lead guitar on his mother's posthumously released solo album, Wide Prairie (1998), which included tracks recorded privately over the previous twenty years.

[5] In 2004, he again left the McCartney family home and began living in a flat in Brighton, where he waited tables while he attended college and worked on his music.

In addition to composing the songs and singing, he plays electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin, piano and bass on the recordings.

Produced by David Kahne and Paul McCartney, the EP was recorded between Sussex, London and New York over the previous year,[9] including Abbey Road Studios.

[3] The album was released electronically September 2010 on Blake Morgan's Engine Company Records,[3][12] (now ECR Music Group)[13][14] to positive reviews.

[16] Like the EPs, it was produced by Paul McCartney and David Kahne, and is being released by Engine Company Records (now ECR Music Group).

[17] In a Rolling Stone song exclusive about the track New York Times, James notes he composed the main riff on a family trip when his father "... was just inches away from me".

[18] In April 2012, McCartney told a BBC interviewer that he had mooted the idea "a little bit" of forming a "next generation" version of the Beatles with Sean Lennon, Zak Starkey, and Dhani Harrison.

[citation needed] In November 2012, James performed at a London benefit for the David Lynch Foundation, which his father also supports.