Jim Bob

Jim Bob

Jim Bob is the stage name for James Morrison, the London born writer and musician best known as the singer of indie punk band Carter USM.

Biography

Jim Bob was born James Neil Morrison in the city of London, on 22 November 1960. He changed his name because he did not want to be mistaken for, in his own words, "a fat, dead, crap poet" - in other words, the former singer of The Doors.

He played in various bands during the 1980s, one of which was Jamie Wednesday who were performing between 1985 and 1987. In 1987 Jamie Wednesday split up just before a gig at the London Astoria. Morrison and Les Carter filled in playing along to a backing tape and Carter USM was born. In fact, Jim and Les had known each other since the late 1970s, when their bands The Ballpoints (featuring Jim on vocals) and Dead Clergy (Les on bass and vocals) used to rehearse at the same studio behind Streatham station. When The Ballpoints' bassist quit at the end of 1980, Les joined the band, who then went on to play several gigs under the name of Peter Pan's Playground.

In Carter USM Jim Bob had 14 top 40 singles, 4 top ten albums (including a number one) and played over 800 gigs all over the world as lead singer of the band. The band split up in 1997. Since Carter USM, Jim Bob has released two albums and three singles with his disco-pop-punk group Jim's Super Stereoworld, four solo albums as Jim Bob or James Robert Morrison and played various live shows both with his band and solo. In 2001 he joined his old Carter bandmate Fruitbat onstage once again as part of supergroup Who's The Daddy Now?.

Jim Bob currently tours as a solo artist playing both Carter songs and his solo material. His Goodnight Jim Bob - On The Road With Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine autobiography was published by Cherry Red Books in May 2004 to critical acclaim. Jim Bob's album Angelstrike, was released on November 22, 2004.

In 2005, Cherry Red released a DVD of a live solo acoustic performance titled Live From London featuring songs from throughout his solo career as well as many Carter USM tracks.

This was followed by a concept album entitled School, which was released in March 2006, brought forward after a leak to the internet.

A "Best of" album was released in the autumn of 2006, accompanied by a UK tour. This release was originally intended to be a download only release, but a physical CD was produced. The album was accompanied by a free CD of Jim Bob and Jim's Super Stereoworld rarities. The cover design was re-worked by Jim Bob from an image by Jim Connolly.

Jim Bob contributed two songs to Mark Ravenhill's Barbican's 2006/7 Pantomime, Dick Whittington, "The Lord Major's show" and "The Victory Of Evil Song".

The album "A Humpty Dumpty Thing" was released in November 2007 by Cherry Red records. The album came with a Jim Bob penned mini novel called "Word Count". A single from the album "Battling The Bottle" was released with Jim Bob's reworking of the children's song "The Wheels on the Bus" on the B-side.

Jim Bob's next solo record was called Goffam. It was another concept album about a city in the grip of crime, deserted by its superheroes. He toured the UK in April and September 2009 promoting the album.

In December 2009 Jim Bob performed his 2004 song 'Angelstrike!' as part of The Return of 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People shows for two nights at the Bloomsbury Theatre and at Hammersmith Apollo, where he performed the song with a 23 piece orchestra.

His short story 'Word Count' has been optioned by Untold Pictures in light of turning it into a feature film. Jim Bob was also commissioned to write the screenplay.

His debut novel 'Storage Stories' was published on the day of the UK General Election May 6, 2010 by Ten Forty Books.

In August 2010 Jim Bob appeared in 'Gutted, A Revenger's Musical' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The musical was written by Danielle Ward and Martin White and starred Doc Brown, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Helen George, Colin Hoult, Michael Legge, Sara Pascoe, Lizzie Roper, Fiona Stephenson, Daniel Tawse and The Penny Dreadfuls (David Reed, Thom Tuck, Humphrey Kerr).

Solo discography

All releases credited as Jim Bob unless otherwise stated. See Carter USM and Jamie Wednesday for those bands' discographies.

Albums

• Jim's Super Stereoworld, 2001 (Jim's Super Stereoworld)
• J.R., 2001 (James Robert Morrison)
• Big Flash Car on a Saturday Night, 2002 (Jim's Super Stereoworld)
• Goodnight Jim Bob, 2003
• Angelstrike!, 2004
• School, 2006
• Best of Jim Bob, 2006
• A Humpty Dumpty Thing, November 2007
• Goffam, April 2009

Singles

• Jim's Super Stereoworld - "Bonkers In The Nut", 1999
• Jim's Super Stereoworld - "Could U B The 1 I Waited 4", 1999
• Jim's Super Stereoworld - "Bubblegum EP", 2002
• Dumb and Dumber, March 2005
• Battling The Bottle (Fighting The Flab, At War With The World), November 2007
• Our Heroes, June 2009

Other releases

• Acoustic Party 7

A Free CD recorded by Jim at home and given away to the first 10 people to visit the T-shirt stall and ask for Marc or Neil on the October 2003 tour

• Stolen from Westlife

25 readers of Jim's book won a copy of the CD 'Stolen From Westlife' - 8 cover versions recorded by Jim - after answering some questions posed by the author on page 95. There were surprisingly few competition entries as most people presumed it was a joke.

• Busker

A free Cd recorded by Jim and containing six acoustic covers, the CD is currently being issues only to members of Jim's "street team". The CD includes a cover of a track originally written and recorded by former-Carter bandmate Les Carter.

DVDs

• Live From London, 2005

A DVD featuring a live acoustic performance of Jim Bob songs and Carter USM songs. Bonus features include an interview with Jim, Jim reading excerpts from his autobiography and the video for the Jim's Super Stereoworld song Bubblegum.

Books

• Goodnight Jim Bob – On the Road With Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine Jim Bob's autobiographic tale of his time on tour with Carter USM. Published by Cherry Red Books.
• Storage Stories Jim Bob's debut novel, described as a darkly comic rollercoaster ride full of thrills, spills and warm sick on the back of the neck. A fictional autobiographical novel and collection of short stories told in words and pictures that, if nothing else, finally solves the mystery of what happened to all the missing boybands.

External links

• Carter USM family
• Jim Bob
• Interview with Jim Bob in TRM bsarg