british

Steven Patrick Morrissey, better known as Morrissey, is a British singer and lyricist of Irish descent born in Davyhulme, Manchester, United Kingdom on May 22, 1959.

He was the lead singer of The Smiths, one of the most influential alternative bands in the 1980s. The group split up in 1987 and Morrissey started a successful solo career.

His first solo album, Viva Hate was released only six months after The Smiths split, in March 1988. The album's first single "Suedehead" peaked at #5, a higher position than any Smiths single had ever achieved. In 1990, Bona Drag, a collection of his solo singles and b-sides, including popular songs such as "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" and "Everyday is Like Sunday" (which also appears on "Viva Hate")

His second album 1991's Kill Uncle was not as well received as his first, with neither single achieving the Top 20. In 1992, the Mick Ronson-produced Your Arsenal was released and included singles such as "Tomorrow" and "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful". A live album, Beethoven Was Deaf, followed in 1993.

In 1994, Morrissey released Vauxhall and I, which contained "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get", his biggest hit in the United States, where it peaked at #46. Later that year, Morrissey also recorded a one-off project with Siouxsie of Siouxsie and the Banshees: they sang in duet on the single Interlude.

After "Vauxhall and I", Morrissey released Southpaw Grammar (1995) and Maladjusted (1997), both of which failed to produce a UK Top 20 single.

A period of musical inactivity followed in the late 90s and early 2000s, which was due to failure in finding a suitable label, according to a 2004 interview with Jools Holland. After seven years without a new album release, You Are the Quarry was released on May 17, 2004 (but one day later in the USA). The first single, Irish Blood, English Heart, was released internationally on May 10, 2004. The single reached number three in its first week of sales in the UK singles chart. To date, this is the highest placing chart position for Morrissey in his entire career as both a solo artist and the lead singer of The Smiths (the 2006 release You Have Killed Me also debuted at number three in its first week in the charts). It has sold over a million copies, making the album his most successful, solo or with The Smiths.

Ringleader Of The Tormentors, produced by former David Bowie producer Tony Visconti, was released in April 2006. The album went straight to the top of the UK Album charts.

Morrissey released a new Greatest Hits collection in February 2008, including two new songs: All You Need Is Me and That’s How People Grow Up, both released as singles. Morrissey is now signed to Decca Records.

In 2009, Morrissey released his latest album, Years of Refusal, which was produced by Jerry Finn, his final production credit before his death. Later in the year, Morrissey released the B-sides collection Swords.

2009 also saw the re-releases of Maladjusted and Southpaw Grammar, two of his most critically maligned albums. The Maladjusted re-release ditched two of its singles, Papa Jack and Roy's Keen, in favour of several other tracks from the period, such as I Can Have Both. Sorrow Will Come in the End, written about Morrissey's vicious legal battle with Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, was also re-instated to the UK edition. Southpaw Grammar retained all of its original tracks, albeit re-sequenced, but recieved the addition of other tracks from that time period, including the new album closer Nobody Loves Us.

Two other Morrissey releases came in 2009; The HMV/Parlophone Singles '88-'95 and Swords, the former a 3 CD compilation of singles and B-sides from Viva Hate through to Vauxhall and I, the latter a compilation of B-sides from You Are The Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Years of Refusal.

A new Very Best Of collection was released in 2011, accompanied by a UK tour.

Morrissey's eleventh solo album, 'Low in High School', was released on November 17th, 2017. ' Low in high School' was produced by Joe Chiccarelli same producer as Morrissey’s ‘World Peace is None of Your Business’.

Morrissey's twelth studio album "California Son" is released on 24 May 2019 on the singer's label étienne and licensed on BMG, the album is a collection of cover versions. It is recorded in 2018 by Joe Chiccarelli, a frequent collaborator of Morrissey.

Morrissey's new studio album, I Am Not A Dog On A Chain, is scheduled for March 2020 release by BMG. The album was recorded in St-remy, France, with producer Joe Chiccarelli. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

There are multiple artists called James Morrison:
1) an English singer-songwriter from Rugby
2) an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments; best known for his trumpet playing
3) a notable south Sligo-style Irish fiddler.
4) "Jim" Morrison, lead singer of 1960s American rock group The Doors.

1. James Morrison (born James Morrison Catchpole on August 13, 1984) is a singer-songwriter from Rugby, Warwickshire, England. He says that his musical influences include Al Green, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens and The Kinks.

At 13 Morrison began to learn guitar when his uncle showed him how to play a blues riff. He started busking when he lived at Porth near Newquay, in Cornwall. After years of playing other musicians' songs, he eventually started to write his own.

Polydor Productions took charge and signed him. He became the supporting artist for Corinne Bailey Rae on her tour supporting her debut album.

In 2006 he debuted with his single you give me something which became a hit single around Europe and Japan. It reached the #2 spot in Holland and the #5 spot in the UK. His debut album Undiscovered went straight to #1 in the UK and has sold more than 2,000,000 copies worldwide.

The second single released from the album was "Wonderful World," which became a top 10 hit in the UK reaching the #8 spot.

James' second album "Songs For You, Truths For Me" was released in September of 2008. The single released days before the album was "You Make It Real". The big hit from the album though was the second single "Broken Strings" featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. It reached the number 1 spot on at least 4 charts of various countries (including Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and on the European Hot 100 also). It peaked at number 2 in the UK, Austria and Ireland. It was a top 40 hit on the US Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart also peaking at 34.

Morrison's first single from his third album, "The Awakening", was "I Won't Let You Go". Singles that followed were "Up" feat. Jessie J, "Slave To The Music" and "One Life". The album was released on September 23, 2011, reached number 1 in the UK and Switzerland and has been certified platinum in the UK as well.

2. James Morrison (born 11 November 1962 in Boorowa, New South Wales) is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing. He is a multi-instrumentalist, having performed on the clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flugelhorn, bass flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium, tuba and piano. He is also a composer, writing jazz charts for ensembles of various sizes and proficiency levels. He performed the opening fanfare at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In 2009, he joined Steve Pizzati and Warren Brown as a presenter on Top Gear Australia.

Morrison has performed with Dizzy Gillespie (the first Australian to do so), with Don Burrows, as a member of the Don Burrows Band, and with Ray Charles and B. B. King for a 1990 world tour. He has also worked with Ray Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Sinatra, Cab Calloway, Jon Faddis, Woody Shaw, Whitney Houston, Arturo Sandoval, Phil Stack, George Benson, Mark Nightingale, and Red Rodney.

In 2005, he was the guest soloist at the 150th anniversary concert of the Black Dyke Band and in 2007, he again appeared as guest soloist at concerts with the band in Manchester and London. In 2003 he founded the band On The Edge together with the German keyboarder and composer Simon Stockhausen (CD released on Morrison Records).

Morrison has also had a long association with Composer and pianist Lalo Schifrin (of Mission Impossible fame) and has recorded a number of CDs on Schifrin's "Jazz Meets The Symphony" series. These include recordings with the London Symphony and the Czech National Symphony.

3. James Morrison (3 May 1893 - 1947), known as "The Professor", was a notable South Sligo-style Irish fiddler.

Morrison was born in 1893 near Riverstown, County Sligo at the townland of Drumfin. Morrison grew up in a community steeped in traditional Irish culture especially music and at the age of 17 he was employed by the Gaelic League to tutor the Connacht style of step dancing at the Gaelic League school in County Mayo.

In 1915, at the age of 21, he emigrated to America and settled in New York. In 1918, Morrison won the fiddle competition at the New York Feis. Morrison become associated with other leading Irish musicians such as Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran who were also from County Sligo.

Morrison was one of the leading Irish music teachers in New York in the 1930s and '40s. In addition to the fiddle, he could play the flute and button accordion (and wrote a tutor on the latter) and taught hundreds of young Irish-American students to play traditional music on various instruments.

4. See The Doors. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.