James Morrison’s musical fears

James Morrison fears being “middle of the road.” The ‘You Give Me Something’ singer is happy to have a varied fanbase, but thinks he is perceived in a different way.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post newspaper: “It was all girls at first. Just girls and embarrassed guys would turn up to my gigs. Maybe it’s the lyrics, I don’t know, I never expected it that way – I’m not exactly the best-looking bloke in the world with this big honk in the middle of my face. I never really wanted to be some kind of lothario either, so I’m glad it seems to have changed over the last two years or so.

“Now I look out at my shows and its everyone from students to older couples, little kids, single people, which is great.

“I’m lucky in that they’re all really cool people who are into their music. But I am also conscious of being viewed as a bit middle of the road and I think my last album veered that way a bit, it lost its edge compared to the first album so I’m trying to do something different again with the third one.”

James has also been placed in the same musical bracket as other male singers who produce chilled out love songs, but insists he doesn’t mind being compared with stars including Paolo Nutini and James Blunt.

He added: “When I first came along it was just before an influx of singer/songwriters came out.

“It just went mental for a while and there was always that comparison, which I understand. And every artist wonders about their success – was it me or was my timing just good? And I think it’s a bit of both really. I benefited from releasing my first batch of stuff in the summertime which always helps if you have that kind of sound.”