James has been singing and playing music since he was 6 years old. His career as a singer / guitarist / songwriter spans decades and coasts. Cutting his teeth in the late 70’s playing in country and rock bands in Fort Lauderdale to headlining LA’s Sunset Strip in the late 80’s, later playing guitar with Dokken and singing with Nazareth. He toured for years, playing and living in Los Angeles, Nashville & Austin and wrote countless songs professionally in all genres with much commercial success and TV and film placement. While living and working in Los Angeles his skill as a vocal coach and music producer began to come to the forfront in 2001 when he began working as a vocal analyst and coach with American Idol. He was involved with the show for 10 years and directly worked on show for 3 seasons. His years on screen and behind the scenes with Idol made him a household name in the Hollywood music and vocal coaching scene and landed him on the rosters of almost every major label as a vocal coach and producer, for many people in the industry he was their go-to guy!.