Gavin James is back!

WITH over two million singles sold, 800 million streams and a platinum selling debut album, Gavin James is back with three nights in The Olympia Theatre in April.

It’s been just under three years since the Dublin singer songwriter released his debut album ‘Bitter Pill’.

Since then the past years have been non-stop for James with tours across the globe, including his own sold out headline arena tour to an audience of 15,000, as well as supporting Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith along the way.

Gavin’s total streams are rapidly heading toward the one billion mark and rising, making him one of the most successful streamed acts in the world. His breakout hit single ‘Nervous’ from his debut album has achieved over 200 million streams collectively on Spotify, reached No 1 in Holland and the Top 10 in France, Ireland and Norway.

The debut album also achieved Platinum Top 5 sales in his native Ireland and reached the Top 5 of the album charts across Europe. Gavin’s latest collaboration with Alan Walker on the single ‘Tired’ has also reached platinum sales around the globe. 

One of the most genuine and humble artists in music, Gavin is looking forward to the release of his forthcoming sophomore album ‘Only Ticket Home’ (due for release October 26). The lead single ‘Always’ (mixed by Mark Ralph – Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne, Years and Years, Rudimental) has reached 20 million streams to date and is now platinum in Ireland, and No 1 in Brazil.

Gavin explains this new journey for us: “I’m so happy to release ‘Only Ticket Home’ to the world on October 26. I have been on the road constantly since the release of my first record ‘Bitter Pill’ and this new collection of songs are about the whole process of being away from home and the people you love. It’s also about how amazing it was to be on tour and travel around the world for the last  three years. The album was produced by my buddy Ollie Green, who also co-wrote a lot of the tunes on the album with me. The songs came very quickly after ‘Always’ was written,” he revealed.

“Everything took shape when that song was finished, and we knew exactly what the sound was going to be for the record. The record as a whole is very far away from ‘Bitter Pill’. I really wanted to step a bit away from the world of ballads with this one so the majority of the record is fairly upbeat. It’s very much a record of happy sad songs.”

Gavin’s popularity is a just reward for such a talented and tireless musician. The son of Dublin’s best-known postman  (“I’m not kidding, everyone in the city knows my dad!) – and a child-minding mum, Gavin grew up surrounded by music, not all of it to his taste. His dad played Cat Stevens, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan and Van Halen round the house, while his decade older brother, with whom he shared a room, relentlessly played rave.

Gavin’s great grandparents were opera singers and his granddad a stand-up comedian and whistler who appeared on TV in Ireland. With performing clearly in his blood, Gavin took up guitar at 13, learning Led Zeppelin covers and forming a three-piece rock band (minus a bassist), who played gigs in skate parks. By 14, he was writing his own rock songs, which he stripped down to play on acoustic guitar with a mate. Still at school, the pair began getting their first paid gigs in pubs. Eventually the pair went their separate ways and for four years Gavin gigged non-stop.

It was only a matter of time until he was performing his own songs and 600 punters were turning up to howl back the songs to him every weekend.

He increased his focus on songwriting and playing and was rewarded in 2013, aged 21, when his independently released single ‘Say Hello’ won the Meteor Choice Award for Song of The Year. An EP led to several of his songs become domestic radio hits.

Gavin James is live at the Olympia Theatre from April 17 to 19.