James Taylor-Watts (born 27 October 1997),[1] better known as James TW, is an English singer-songwriter. His single "When You Love Someone" peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart.
Early life
Taylor-Watts was born in England, the son of Sarah and Richard Taylor-Watts.[2] He was named after James Taylor, one of his parents' favourite musicians.[3]
Taylor-Watts' father, who played guitar in a wedding band as a hobby, once found a young James playing on the drum kit at home. Shortly thereafter, the band's drummer wasn't able to make it to a gig. So the band had a decision to make: either let 10 year-old Taylor-Watts play or cancel the gig. Taylor-Watts played that evening and has been performing on a regular basis ever since. He picked up guitar at 12 years old and started playing piano the following year. In 2010, Taylor-Watts started his YouTube channel at 12 years old.[3][4]
Career
2014–2016: Just a Number and First Impressions
In 2014, Taylor-Watts self-released the EP Just a Number, which rose to number 6 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart.[5][6] In early 2015, Shawn Mendes, an artist discovered on social media, found Taylor-Watts on YouTube and praised him on Twitter. Mendes' label, Island Records, then noticed Taylor-Watts and he signed with them shortly thereafter.[7] On 30 October 2015, Taylor-Watts released his debut single "Black & Blue". On 19 February 2016, he released a music video for his single, "When You Love Someone", through Universal Music. The song reached over 60 million Spotify streams[8][9] and peaked at No. 28 on Billboard's Adult Pop Songs chart.[10][11]
On 15 April 2016, Taylor-Watts released his debut EP titled First Impressions, featuring five original songs as well as a cover of "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia, which earned 17 million Spotify streams[9] and peaked at 15 on the Spotify Viral 50 chart.[12] Taylor-Watts was the sole opening act on the sold out Shawn Mendes World Tour.[4][9] On 9 September 2016, he released a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".
2017–present: Chapters and Heartbeat Changes
On 23 January 2017, Taylor-Watts performed "When You Love Someone" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[13] He released the single "Ex" on 17 February 2017 while premiering the video via Billboard on the same day.[14] In February, he was named the opening act on the European leg of Shawn Mendes' Illuminate World Tour[15] with dates from April to June 2017.
Taylor-Watts released a new single called "You & Me" on 18 January 2019.[16] The song, alongside "When You Love Someone", "Say Love" and "Soldier", was included on his debut album Chapters, which was released the following April.[17]
Taylor-Watts announced in March 2021 that he would be releasing the single "Butterflies" on 19 March 2021.[18] In September, he released the EP Heartbeat Changes (Part 1),[19] followed by his second full-length album Heartbeat Changes on 10 June 2022. The album comprises the songs from the EP plus seven new tracks.[20]
