Electric Light – James Bay

A singer/songwriter with a penchant for crafting moving and evocative folk-pop, James Bay hails from the North Hertfordshire market town of Hitchin. Bay honed his skills regionally, eventually landing high-exposure support slots with Tom Odell, John Newman, and Kodaline before inking a record deal with Republic/Universal in 2012.

Bay soon began recording material, and charted the single “When We Were on Fire” in 2013. One year later, he landed a pair of songs in the British Top Ten; first, “Let It Go” peaked at number ten, and by the end of 2014, “Hold Back the River” hit number two (and charted in ten other countries). Bay’s first full-length, Chaos and the Calm, appeared in March 2015, in time for him to play a handful of American dates, including showcases at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas. The album hit number one in Great Britain and Ireland, and debuted within the Top 20 in the U.S. During 2016, Bay earned a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist, as well as Grammy nominations for Best New Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Rock Song for “Hold Back the River.” He returned in 2018 with the emotive single “Wild Love.” ~ James Christopher Monger