About Me

The condensed back story !

Although I think of myself as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter, I’ve been fortunate to work in many areas.

I studied classically from an early age, and then in Jazz and Arranging at degree level.

After leaving music college I worked on the cruise liners. Having to entertain the same audience on long voyages, required a memorised repertoire of well over 500 songs. So, from St Petersburg to Guadeloupe, I would play the Beatles, Rodrigo, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Elvis, Queen, Guns & Roses - you name it!

After moving to London in ’91 I got a job working in a film company in Covent Garden. The duties were everything from writing recording and arranging, to guitar, piano and singing sessions. It was a vibrant, interesting time, working with a lot of actors who were just about to break. Paul Bettany, Jude Law and Rhys Ifans to name but a few.

After a brief spell with Universal Music writing and producing songs, I signed to EMI Music Publishing as a composer in 2004. I’ve been writing production music for film and TV, on & off, ever since. Again- a wide variety of work, from big band arrangements to radio jingles, pop songs and orchestral cues etc

Plenty of guitar pop sessions with Westlife and Emma Bunton. Placido Domingo and Pop Idol artists during this time also.

In 2016, I got back into films again, working first on Stan & Ollie with Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, and then Bohemian Rhapsody, coaching Gwilym Lee and the lads for six months. During the same period, I was arranging and producing regularly for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road studio 2.

In 2019 I was music coach for the Netflix film “Eurovision’, working with both Will Ferrel & Rachel McAdams. Then followed tours of Europe, Australia and New Zealand with Elaine Paige.

This year (2021) I’ve been working on Danny Boyles’ new series about the Sex Pistols. It was great to get to hang out with Glen and Cookie and talk about those early days in London, and help the actors recreate that intense energy.

James Graydon November 2021