Alex James

Steven Alexander James, FRSA (born 21 November 1968) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Blur.

He has also played with temporary bands Fat Les, Me Me Me, WigWam and Bad Lieutenant.

James was born in Boscombe, Bournemouth, and attended the state grammar school Bournemouth School, where he started playing in bands.

He credits the Beatles with inspiring him to pursue music: "I was off school with chickenpox when John Lennon was shot in 1980. I spent the week watching a VHS recording of the Beatles film Help!, which was broadcast on TV the day he died. I still watch it once a year. Then I bought a Beatles songbook and a guitar, figured out the chord shapes and started strumming and singing along. I never looked back."

In 1988, James met future bandmate Graham Coxon at Goldsmiths College, where James studied French.

Introductions with Coxon's old school friend Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree soon took place; at the time Albarn and Rowntree were part of a band called Circus.

In 1989, James joined Coxon, Albarn and Rowntree's new band, Seymour, which would later be renamed Blur.

In 1998, James formed Fat Les with actor Keith Allen and artist Damien Hirst, releasing the unofficial theme song (excluding three others) "Vindaloo" for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart.

He also worked on side project Me Me Me with Stephen Duffy, co-wrote songs for Marianne Faithfull (appearing in drag playing a double bass in the music video for her single "Sex With Strangers") and Jane McDonald, and worked with Florence and the Machine and Gene Loves Jezebel.

James worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on her solo debut Read My Lips, co-writing and co-producing "Move This Mountain", and co-producing "I Believe" with Ellis-Bextor and producer Ben Hillier.

He also played bass on both tracks.

In 2001, James and Graham Coxon appeared in the Channel 4 Pixies documentary "Gouge".

Ellis-Bextor's 2003 album, Shoot from the Hip also featured James as bass player and co-writer on the track "Love Is It Love".

He also joined his friend and singer-songwriter Betty Boo in a band called WigWam in 2005.

James represented The Idler on BBC Two's University Challenge: The Professionals in 2005 with John Moore of Black Box Recorder.

They secured a heavy win over the Financial Times in their heat, but did not score highly enough to return for the tournament's later stages.

An autobiography of James's experience with Blur, Bit of a Blur, was published in June 2007 by Little, Brown & Company.

It has since been described as "the definitive guide to Britpop".

In 2007, James was a judge on the Channel 4 show Orange unsignedAct and, in November 2007, appeared as a panellist on the BBC One satirical news quiz, Have I Got News for You.

He also appeared in episode #3.4 of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word TV series as a participant in the Recipe Challenge which occurs in each episode.

He has been in the band ever since, although in 2008 he described the days of being a constant band member as "a past-life".

In August 2008, James appeared in reality TV series, Maestro on BBC Two. He was voted out in the fourth episode of the series.

In September 2008, a documentary television series, Cocaine Diaries: Alex James in Colombia, premiered on BBC America, in conjunction with the BBC America Reveals program.

As the documentary progresses, James – who admits to having used cocaine extensively during Blur's Britpop heyday – learns about Colombia's violent drug export trade.

Almost immediately after this, Blur got together with returning bandmate Graham Coxon to perform at Glastonbury Festival, Hyde Park, Oxegen and T in the Park during the summer of 2009.

They also played shows at Goldsmiths College, Essex Museum and other venues around the UK and mainland Europe.

In 2009, James appeared as bass player on debut Bad Lieutenant record Never Cry Another Tear.

The band consists of New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner and guitarist Phil Cunningham, along with Jake Evans of Rambo And Leroy.

In October 2009, James presented an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and, in January 2010, he participated in the ITV1 reality television programme Popstar to Operastar.

James published a follow-up entitled All Cheeses Great and Small: A Life Less Blurry in September 2011, charting his transformation from rock star to cheesemaker as he moves to a farm in Oxfordshire.

On 3 December 2011, he appeared on The Chase with Sara Cox, Ann Widdecombe and Eamonn Holmes against chaser Anne Hegerty, but he was caught by the chaser.

Blur headlined a show at Hyde Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

On 4 March 2012, James appeared on Top Gear as a guest for their 'star in a reasonably priced car' segment, clocking in at 1:45.2.

On 16 March 2012, James appeared on The Bank Job and made the final, where he was beaten by Rachel Riley.

In 2013, the band performed at the Rock Werchter in Belgium, the Spanish and Portuguese dates of the Primavera Sound festival, and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the United States.

Unlike Albarn, Coxon and Rowntree, James has not released any solo material, although he has been involved in other collaborative side projects.

In 2013, James co-wrote the song "Did I Lose You?", performed by Giorgia and Olly Murs.

Alex James is a food writer for The Sun and has a weekly column, 'Alex James on All Things Food'; as well as a regular column on farm and family life in The Sunday Telegraph titled 'Mucking In'.

He also writes a monthly column on cheese for Esquire Magazine.

Alex contributes to a number of other British newspapers including The Independent, The Observer, The Times, and The Sunday Times, as well as Q magazine, The Spectator and The Idler.