Duncan James

This article is about British singer and member of band Blue. For Australian singer, see Duncan James (Australian singer).

For other uses of "Duncan James", see Duncan James (disambiguation).

Duncan James
Duncan James in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Duncan Matthew James Inglis
Born	(1978-04-07) 7 April 1978
Origin	Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Genres	Pop rock, R&B
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Innocent (2001–2007)
Associated acts	Blue, Antony Costa, Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe
Website	officialduncanjames.co.uk

Duncan Matthew James Inglis (born 7 April 1978), known as Duncan James, is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue from 2000 to 2005 and again from 2009 following their reformation.

Early life

James was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He grew up an only child in Devon and was raised primarily by his mother and grandparents after his father abandoned his mother before he was born. He was raised a "strict Catholic" and educated at Dumpton School (where his grandfather worked as a music teacher), the Milldown School in Blandford Forum and Corfe Hills School in Broadstone and Sidmouth College in East Devon. At 15, he played Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also played Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes for Sidmouth Youth Theatre. James also worked for Haven Holidays as a Havenmate on the Isle Of Wight and at West Bay in Dorset.^{[citation needed]}

Career

2000–2005: Career with Blue

Main article: Blue (English band)

Blue performing Greatest Hits Tour, in 2005.

In early 2000, James, along with Antony Costa, convinced Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe to form the group Blue. Blue's R&B-influenced pop allowed the group to achieve commercial success in the United Kingdom and many other countries, including Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand. The band released their debut single "All Rise" in May 2001 and it reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Their follow up single "Too Close" was released in August 2001 peaking at #1 on the UK Singles Chart. They went on to achieve a second number one in November with the ballad "If You Come Back". The album All Rise was released in time for Christmas and reached number one, eventually selling in excess of 1.8 million albums in the UK. The final single from the album, "Fly By II", reached number six in March 2002. Their second studio album, One Love was released in October 2002, entering at #1 on the UK Albums Chart and selling more than 150,000 copies. Three singles were released from the album: "One Love", which peaked at #3, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", featuring vocals from Elton John, which peaked at #1, and "U Make Me Wanna", which peaked at #4. Their third studio album, Guilty, was released in autumn 2003, entering at #1 on the UK Albums Chart and selling 100,000 copies on the week of release. The album spawned four singles, including the title track, "Guilty", which peaked at #2, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", featuring vocal from Stevie Wonder and Angie Stone, which peaked at #11, "Breathe Easy", which peaked at #4, and "Bubblin'", which peaked at #9.

Following the release of Best of Blue, includes three tracks only previously in Japan: "The Gift", "It's Alright" and "Elements". By the indication of the album booklet, a live version of "Lonely This Christmas" from CD:UK was intended to be track seven on the album, however, was removed from the tracklisting for unknown reasons. The album was released in July 2005, becoming available in several European countries, as well as Japan, Thailand and China, however, was a commercial failure and failed to chart anywhere. The album was not released in the UK, despite copies being widely available.

2006–2010: Future Past, stage and television

He returned to the solo music scene in May 2006 with his single "Sooner or Later", releasing the video in early May and planning to release the single commercially on 5 June 2006. The video reached Number 2 on The Box and Number 5 on The Hits. However, the single was no commercial success and entered the British charts at Number 35, before slipping down to Number 72 in its second week. "Can't Stop a River" was James's next single. Released on 21 August 2006, the track could only reach Number 59 in the UKRe, and Number 97 in Ireland. In continental Europe, where "Can't Stop a River" was released the day prior to the UK, it similarly proved unpopular, dropping out of the singles charts in many countries such as France, Turkey, Germany, and Belgium. James' album also fell short, selling less than 1,000 copies in the UK in its first week (and failing to reach the Top 50). The album sold a total of 412,350 copies around the world. Although his debut album did not do as well as hoped (with the exception of Italy, where the album reached Number 2 on the chart and has been certified platinum for shipments of 80,000 copies), on 2 February 2007, music channel B4 premièred the video for "Amazed", his new single which was scheduled to be released 12 March 2007. However, there was once again a lack of interest. The release was cancelled and James was dropped from his recording contract. He has since announced he has quit his solo career. In 2007, James appeared in the West End production of Chicago. He completed another 10 weeks in Chicago from 10 December 2007 until 9 February 2008. He appeared in an episode of The Bill called "The Morning After" which aired on 1 January 2009. He played a character called Dan Colman. It was confirmed in February 2009 that James had been chosen to replace Denise Van Outen as the presenter of Grease: the School Musical which is the sequel to Hairspray: The School Musical. Filming of the show commenced in early 2009. In May 2009, James announced the UK's voting in the Eurovision Song Contest. He presented Hannah-Oke on Disney Channel UK, a singing dancing contest based on the popular Disney TV series Hannah Montana. He also appeared on Celebrity Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? and raised £10,000 for his charities. In 2006, James appeared with the other members of the boyband Blue on the 26 June episode of Ministry of Mayhem, where James and the other band members were all hypnotised by UK stage hypnotist David Days.

James has worked occasionally as a television presenter, having presented the 95.8 Capital FM's Party in the Park for the Prince's Trust (2003 and 2004), and ITV2's coverage of the TV series Soapstar Superstar, along with Jayne Middlemiss. Other presenting work includes Pop City Live, Variety Club Showbusiness Awards 2004, T4 Movie Special: Spider-Man 2, Record of the Year: Downloaded and GMTV's Entertainment Today. He also took part on ITV1's Dancing on Ice in 2007, in which he made it to the grand final alongside rugby player Kyran Bracken and actress Clare Buckfield. He came third in the contest, although was unable to perform his Bolero performance. In 2007, James played himself in the pilot episode of Plus One, which was part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase. A full series was broadcast in 2009, in which he played a broad caricature of himself called "Duncan From Blue". James made an appearance on a new show for Sky One called Guinness World Records Smashed performing with Festival4Stars contestants. It aired in November 2008. In 2008, James became an Ambassador of Festival4Stars talent competition after he judge a national final. James has been cast as one of the leads in the musical Legally Blonde (adapted from the film Legally Blonde) as it transferred from Broadway to London's West End in December 2009. He plays opposite Sheridan Smith as Elle, and Aoife Mulholland as Brooke. In December 2009, James appeared as 'Warner Huntington III' in the West End production of Legally Blonde. James appeared as a celebrity guest on 14 August 2009 on Daily Cooks Challenge. In 2010, James presented the quiz show Scream if You Know the Answer! where the contestants have to answer questions whilst on rollercoasters. In July 2010, he appeared as a judge on Don't Stop Believing, a talent show for choirs. James has his own radio show on 95.8 Capital FM, every Sunday from 7–10 pm. In 2009 he briefly made an appearance on an episode of the UK reality show What Katie Did Next about the model Katie Price and her life.

Blue performing in Manchester on 2011.

2011–present: Return with Blue

The band represented the United Kingdom at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany with the song "I Can" coming in 11th place with 100 points. Blue released their fourth studio album, Roulette on 25 January 2013 with "Hurt Lovers" as the lead single. On 21 February 2013, it was confirmed that the group would be joining The Big Reunion in which six groups from the past reform for a one off gig including Liberty X, Atomic Kitten and 5ive. From May 2013, the group will be touring the UK and Ireland with the other groups in The Big Reunion concert series. On 27 March 2013, the group announced they would embark on their first headlining tour later on in the year, their first tour in nearly ten years.

Personal life

According to an interview he gave to Gabby Logan on BBC Radio 5 Live on 28 July 2007, he is a great-grandson of Herbert Chapman, the manager of the Arsenal football team of the 1930s. He has a daughter named Tianie Finn with former girlfriend Claire Grainger. James came out as bisexual in an interview with the News of the World on 12 July 2009. Currently, he says that he is gay.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Bo' Selecta!	Himself / Various role	Season 2, Episode 5
2006–07	Soapstar Superstar: Extra Tracks	Himself / Presenter
2007	Dancing on Ice	Himself / Competitior	Season 2; 3rd place
2007	DanceX	Billy Flynn	Season 1, Episode 4
2007	Comedy Showcase	Himself	"Plus One" (Season 1, Episode 3)
2009	The Bill	Dan Coleman	"The Morning After" (Season 25, Episode 1)
2009	Grease: the School Musical	Himself / Judge
2009	Hannah-Oke	Himself / Presenter
2010	Don't Stop Believing	Himself / Judge
2010–11	Scream! If You Know the Answer	Himself / Presenter	Season 1
2012	Spy	Himself / Presenter	"Christmas Special: Codename - Show Stopper" (Season 2, Episode 11)

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions and certifications

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		UK	GER	JAP	ITA	SWI
Future Past	Released: 12 June 2006 Label: Innocent Records Format: CD, digital download	55	68	29	2	59
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications

Title	Year	Peak chart positions							Album
		UK	BEL	GER	IRE	ITA	SWI	UKN
"I Believe My Heart" (with Keedie)	2004	2	16	67	29	13	49	13	Future Past
"Sooner or Later"	2006	35	2	—	—	3	—	9
"Can't Stop A River"		59	—	—	—	—	—	4
"Amazed"		71	—	—	—	—	—	3
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Promotional singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
		UK
"Greatest Love of All" (featuring Rachel Stevens and Children of Fight for Life)	2008	—	Charity single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Bibliography

• AllMusic's description of Blue
• "Life of Ryan", "The Guardian", 3 July 2005, retrieved 17 May 2006
• "Duncan James slams ex-bandmates, "ContactMusic", 1 May 2006, retrieved 17 May 2006
• Everyhit.com Lists chart ranks for UK singles
• "James vows to be a good dad", "ContactMusic", 1 December 2004, retrieved 17 May 2006
• "When does the fun start?" by Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 4 October 2003, retrieved 17 May 2006

External links

• Duncan James at the Internet Movie Database