About Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine studio albums, three compilation albums, one live album and twenty-four singles. Since April 2010, he has presented a weekly Tuesday evening jazz show on BBC Radio 2.
Cullum's Jewish father, whose own mother had fled Nazi Germany, was born in Jerusalem. His mother's father was Indian and her mother was born in Burma. Following the Japanese invasion, the family left Burma and moved to Wales, when his mother was aged five.
Cullum was born in Rochford, Essex, but was brought up in Hullavington, Wiltshire. He failed his grade 4 piano exam, and by his own admission can barely read music. At 15, after attending Grittleton House School, he went to Sheldon School in Chippenham. He felt that he "was on a pathway" for a place at the University of Oxford; instead, he read English Literature and Film Studies at the University of Reading, "just down the road" from where he graduated with First-Class Honours.
Cullum produced his first album, Heard It All Before, with only £480. It was released in 1999, with only 500 copies made. The success of the album led to an invitation to appear on Geoff Gascoyne's album Songs of the Summer.
After graduating from Reading University, Cullum released his album Pointless Nostalgic , which stirred interest from broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg.
Just after Cullum made his first television appearance, on Parkinson, in April 2003, he signed a £1m contract for three albums with Universal, who beat Sony in a bidding war. Cullum's third studio album, Twentysomething, released in October 2003, went platinum and became the No. 1 selling studio album by a jazz artist in the United Kingdom. Cullum ended 2003 as the UK's biggest selling jazz artist of all time.
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