Live at Whelans Gavin James

• 1 For You 02:54
• 2 Nervous 03:38
• 3 I Don't Know Why 03:44
• 4 Coming Home 04:30
• 5 Till The Sun Comes Up 03:55
• 6 Hole In My Heart 03:08
• 7 22 03:01
• 8 Great Escape 02:55
• 9 Ghost 03:52
• 10 Say Hello 03:34
• 11 Two Hearts 04:48
• 12 The Book of Love 03:14
• Total Runtime 43:13

Info for Live at Whelans

The 22-year-old has already won Ireland's answer to the Mercury (the Choice Music Prize for 'Song of the Year') and seen his debut EP ('Say Hello') remain on the Irish chart for over 6 months. This rise and development in his home market has gained Gavin sell-out headline dates and wider support tours with the likes of Lianne La Havas, Beth Orton, Kodaline and Marina & The Diamonds.

A snapshot of this ascent, 'Live at Whelans' is a selection of new and old songs performed in the stripped-back environment of a rapturously-received hometown show. The first track to be lifted from it, 'Nervous', is a pin-drop account of a one-sided relationship: from that initial fear of your first meeting to the gradual realisation, by the end of the song, that perhaps they were never who you thought they were (and it's best to forget about them).

'Nervous' is held together by James' sweet, soulful voice, and it's arguably in his blood: Gavin's great grandparents on his mother's side were both famous Irish Opera singers and had their own albums released in the early 1900's. He started playing the guitar at the age of eight, gigging around Dublin's Temple bar and slowly growing in confidence - a rapid rise which is captured in the celebratory tone of 'Live at Whelans', and looks set to be replicated worldwide with the release of fleshed-out studio recordings and his debut album next year.

Gavin James
On his way to becoming one of 2016’s international crossover-stories, Gavin James was born in Ashington, a suburb on the northside of Dublin. The 23-year-old son of a postman, music was arguably in James’ blood: his great grandparents were both famous Irish Opera singers and had their own albums released in the early 1900s (they had to turn down an invitation to perform in London owing to their families, and the political conditions of the time). Having started out playing Jimi Hendrix covers in the garden shed, Gavin then drew the short straw when he was chosen as the singer of his teenage band, and learnt his subsequent solo craft the hard way. Inspired by local heroes like Damien Rice and classic, grafting Soul artists such as Sam Cooke, he would play Dublin’s pubs virtually 7 nights a week during college, in a marathon of 3-hour shows.

Growing in confidence, Gavin James’ own material then began to draw an impassioned following: his first ever single won Ireland’s answer to the Mercury (the Choice Prize for ‘Song Of The Year’), stayed on the charts for over 6 months and culminated with 2014’s #1-charting, ‘Live at Whelans’ album: a venue he used to sneak inside when underage, but returned to as a rapturously-received headliner. That night, he happened to perform an impulsive cover of The Magnetic Fields’ ‘The Book Of Love’, accelerating Gavin’s word-of-mouth success story (the track has since become a platinum-selling hit around Europe, with upwards of 6 million plays on Spotify).

With his first piece of recorded material – ‘For You’ – reaching number 1 in Ireland and going top 10 on iTunes in the US, Canada and Holland, Gavin James has inched closer to the spotlight with an appearance on ‘The Late Late Show With James Corden’. Continuing with ‘22’, lifted from sessions from his debut album, Gavin James looks poised to become the next great voice to shine a light back on the Dublin suburbs (and beyond).

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