Soul singer James on laying down roots in his adopted Capital home

Movers and shakers from our city

- by News Reporter

Edinburgh resident soul singer and songwriter James Emmanuel has been enjoying some recognition recently after being announced as the winner of the Scottish Music Awards 'Spotlight' Award. He was also on the cover of Echoes magazine last month.

A Time To Heal, the debut EP from the Nigerian-born musician, is appropriately named both for James personally and the turbulent times we're living through.

Recorded in Joshua Tree, California with Daptone-signed producer and artist Michael Rault and a stellar lineup of musicians, it's the latest step on a long and challenging journey of discovery for 35-year-old James, who first found his love of soul music at the age of five in Benin City, Nigeria.

"It's weird because my father was a preacher and that was devil music to him, but I was just walking by the garage at home and heard a bass line," recalls James. "I immediately asked, 'What is this thing?' because until that point, all I'd known was church music. It was Marvin Gaye and it just stuck with me. I then remember seeing pictures of Marvin at the Grammys in that tuxedo suit and thinking 'I'm going to do that!'"

Happily, the preacher did not keep James away from music, encouraging him to sing with the church's gospel choir, until the road forked again when James was 17 and his father passed away. "He was the most selfless human being I ever knew," says James. "He was always grafting and grafting to do the best for us. He worked himself into the ground, literally. After he died, it was the first time I'd ever seen my mum really worried. She had six kids with not a lot of resources, thinking 'how am I going to do this?'

So it was important to me to show her that we could do it. I left home as quick as I could, never took time to grieve, I never felt I had that luxury."