James Bay

Although there is not much information available on the private life of this young handsome and talented music personality, according to sources he started dating a girl called Lucy while the two were in their teens.

He was born James Michael Bay on September 4, 1990, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. He grew up there and studied at the Hitchin Boys' School.

English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton's song ‘Layla’, counted among the greatest rock songs of all time, inspired Bay to play classical guitar when he was just 11 years of age. He came across an old rusty guitar with 5 strings in a cupboard of his house and played it.

At 18 years of age, he relocated to Brighton for further studies. There he began playing the city's open mic nights. According to him, it taught him much about writing and performing of his own. He made effort in penning down songs that would move the people.

A video of one of his performances at an open mic in London was uploaded on YouTube by a fan. This video drew attention of Republic Records A&R which led Bay to sign with the label within a week.

On July 18, 2013, he came up with his first EP titled ‘The Dark of the Morning’ released through Republic Records. That year he also toured UK and Ireland with the Irish band ‘Kodaline’.

The following year on May 12, Bay released his second EP ‘Let It Go’ through Republic Records. It debuted atop 10 iTunes album chart. The first single of the EP also named ‘Let It Go’ that was written by Bay and British songwriter and musician Paul Barry and produced by Jacquire King released in Europe on September 15, 2014. The song peaked at #62 on the UK Singles Chart on September 27 that year.

He released the song ‘Hold Back The River’ through Republic Records on November 17, 2014 in the UK as the second single of his debut studio album ‘Chaos and the Calm’. The song that was written by Bay along with Ivor Novello award winner Iain Archer climbed atop the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard ) chart and the Irish Singles Chart and peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart.

‘Hold Back The River’ became a success furthering fame of Bay. It received 3× Platinum certification from Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and 2x Platinum certification each from BPI in the UK, NVPI in Netherlands and (FIMI) in Italy.