Reuben James

Releasing his music on his own record label is something that James has sustained and championed the entirety of his career. It allows him to control every aspect of his music and legacy and he oversees a back catalogue that has now amassed in excess of 50 million plays across all platforms.

Reuben first honed his musical skills on the mid-noughties jazz circuit in his hometown of Birmingham, before moving to London where he began performing at the iconic Ronnie Scott’s. Reuben has firmly established himself as a musician’s musician, featuring on projects with everyone from Stormzy to Disclosure, Liam Payne, Sam Smith, James Bay, Little Mix and Lang Lang, as well as scoring the hit Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso with Marcus Mumford. It’s these collaborations, blended with influences from the likes of Frank Ocean, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and Robert Glasper, that have led to James developing a unique sound and style of his own whilst emerging as one of UK music’s most interesting voices. In his work as a bandleader, meanwhile, Reuben has honed an intuitive and accessible sound indebted to classic funk and soul as much as it references contemporary pop and R&B.

Following the release of his debut 2020 EP, Slow Down, he has gone on to produce the stunning jazz references of 2022’s album Tunnel Vision and 2023’s Champagne Kisses, amassing over 50 million streams across DSPs. Big People Music (2025) is his most expansive and immediate album yet, equally at home on the bandstand as it is on the dancefloor and mainstream radio playlists.