Jamie T

Jamie T
Background information
Birth name	Jamie Alexander Treays
Born	8 January 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 23)
Origin	Wimbledon, South London, England
Genres	Indie rock, hip hop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Bass Guitar Electric Guitar
Years active	2005 - Present
Labels	Virgin
Website	Official website

Jamie Alexander Treays^[1] (born 8 January 1986), known by his stage name Jamie T, is a 23-year-old English singer/songwriter from Wimbledon, South London. He attended The Hall School Wimbledon and then Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey, England until he was 16 and is currently signed to Virgin Records, but released his Betty and the Selfish Sons EP on his own Pacemaker Records label. His backing band are called The Pacemakers and he has lately been touring, advertising and releasing material as "Jamie T and The Pacemakers".

He supported both the Ordinary Boys during their 2006 tour, and went on to defeat Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke to win the Best Solo Artist at the 2007 Shockwave NME Awards.^[2] He has also been nicknamed "one man Arctic Monkey".^[3] Canvas Magazine have described him as "like the bastard lovechild of Billy Bragg and Mike Skinner doing his best Joe Strummer impression".^[4]

On 17 July 2007, Jamie T's debut album Panic Prevention was shortlisted as one of the 12 nominees for the Mercury Prize.

Music career

Zane Lowe made "Salvador" his single of the week and "Back in the Game" his Hottest Record in the World. On Jo Whiley's show, "Back in the Game" featured as her "Pet Sound" and more recently his single "Sheila" was Whiley's Record of the Week. Jamie's single "Sheila" has been playlisted by BBC Radio 1 thus receiving more airtime across all shows. Jamie's songs received a lot of airplay on XFM throughout 2006, especially "Sheila" and "If You Got The Money".

"Sheila" was released on 29 July 2006. Jamie has recently admitted this song was an idea from his friend Holly Hermon, whom he is very close with. Two videos were made for song; The first video in 2006 consisted of monkeys living in a house and short clips of Jamie singing, while the second video in 2007 features actor Bob Hoskins walking along the River Thames lipsynching to the lyrics. On 16 October 2006, Jamie released his anthemic tune, "If You Got the Money" which reached #13 in the charts. His next single "Calm Down Dearest" was released in the UK on 15 January 2007 and reached #9, his first top 10 hit.^[5] His debut album Panic Prevention was then released on 29 January 2007.^[6] When he was younger he used to suffer from panic attacks, ^[7] hence the album name. Panic Prevention was leaked onto the internet on 18 December 2006. Lily Allen provided backing vocals on the song "Rawhide" the B-side to the rerelease of "Sheila" on 7 May 2007. Jamie T won the Best Solo Artist award at the 2007 NME Awards.

He performed on the Main Stage on 19 May 2007 in Preston for Radio 1's Big Weekend. He also performed at Glastonbury 2007, Benicassim 2007, Oxegen 2007 (8 July) where he performed at the green room and Carling Weekend Leeds 2007. He played the 2008 V Festival at the JJB Champion ARENA.

The month of September 2007 Jamie T did a US tour, and on 25 September 2007 he made his US television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly performing "Sheila" and also doing an iTunes Session EP.

On January 12, 2009, a music video appeared on Jamie's website for a new song, "Fire Fire". The track has elements of Jamie's trademark sound but incorporates faster rhythms, a punk aesthetic and a more abrasive sound than previous singles. Jamie T has said to NME "'Fire Fire' won't be released as a single nor will it be on the new album, it is just a thank you for the fans being so patient." He did announce a date for his new single though, The 'Stick 'N' Stones' EP which is to be released June 29.

May 21 saw the release of the official video for his latest single "Sticks 'N' Stones". In an email received by subscribers to his website, Jamie said, “Just a little note to say thanks to everyone who’s supporting Sticks ‘N’ Stones. We just finished shooting a little video for the track the other day, so fresh out the edit room it is here for your enjoyment. It was a lot of fun to make and we hope you like it. Hope to see you all soon….. Thanks Jamie”. The video was shot almost entirely in the London suburb of Wimbledon where Jamie is from and features scenes of him and others, including fellow band members.

On 29 June 2009, Jamie released 'Sticks 'N' Stones', the first single from his second album (Kings and Queens) as an extended play with three other tracks, 'St. Christopher', 'On The Green' and 'The Dance Of The Young Professionals'. Sticks 'N' Stones reached no. 15 in the UK singles chart.

Then on 31 August 2009, he released a further EP, the 'Chaka Demus EP' which includes the second single taken from Kings & Queens, also called 'Chaka Demus'. This too features three other songs; 'Forget Me Not (The Love I Knew Before I Grew)', 'Planning Spontaneity' and 'When They Are Gone (For Tim)'.

A week later, on 7 September, eagerly awaited second album Kings and Queens was released. This features eleven tracks The Man's Machine, Sticks & Stones, Spiders Web, Jilly Armeen, Hocus Pocus, Emily's Heart, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Demus, Castro Dies, British intelligence & 368 (plus bonus track 'The Curious Sound' featuring Ben Bones, when downloaded from iTunes). Talking about Kings & Queens, Jamie said ‘I didn’t do my second album. I did my third one instead.’

On the 25 September 2009, Jamie cancelled his Australian tour, due to laryngitis. Six days later, he postponned the first six shows of his sellout UK tour. A week later, however, Jamie cancelled the entire UK and European tours. A statement on his website read: 'After suffering from a bout of laryngitis on his recent Australian tour, which forced him to cancel the first 6 shows of his Kings And Queens UK tour, doctors are advising that Jamie needs more rest in order for his voice to fully recover. So it is with reluctance he is to postpone the remainder of the UK tour as well as shows in Europe. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and hope to see everyone at the re-scheduled shows. The cancelled shows will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity and original tickets will be valid. Refunds will be available from the point of purchase.' Since then, all three tours have been re-scheduled for December-February.

On the 26th of October, Jamie announced he would be releasing a third EP from the album, 'The Man's Machine'. The four track EP will consist of The Man’s Machine, Jenny Can Rely On Me, Man Not A Monster and Believing In Things That Can’t Be Done. ‘The Man’s Machine’ EP will be released on CD and 12 inch vinyl on 23rd November.

Discography

Studio albums

• Panic Prevention (2007)
• Kings & Queens (2009)

Notes

External links

• Jamie T's official website
• Jamie T's Myspace page
• Jamie T's live performance at The Current
• Jamie T on The Lana Show