FORCED to walk around in the drizzling rain on a bleak Tuesday afternoon, James Morrison makes for a rather sorry sight, even if he is having his footage taken in front of the grand pile that is Harewood House.
He's here to stake out the joint out ahead in the graond of his imminent gig of Leeds's most famous noble home, but couldn't have picked a worst day to do a photoshoot."It's not a problem, man," he laughs, brushing the rain from his hair. "They've put me through a hell of a lot worse making videos over the years, ya know, standing for eight hours in temperatures of minus 15 for eight hours without any long johns."They never appear to send me anywhere warm. It's either somewhere or Iceland or London or Canada, then they film me being thrown into a freezing tank of water or something. And wherever I go it it isn't always as beautiful as this place."Morrison drinks in the stunning view that is the Harewood estate. The bottom of the incline towards is the spot where, next month, he'll take to the stage before an audience of thousands He'll be taking a break from writing what will be his latest album it's hard to believe it's his third. Still only 25, he's now been in the spotlight for over four years and racked up a Brit award, not to reference an impressive number of instantly recognisable hits.You Give Me Something, Wonderful World, Broken Strings, all easy listening modern classics which have secured him an increasingly broad audience."It was all girls at first," he admits. "Just girls and embarrassed guys would turn up to my gigs. Maybe it's the lyrics, I don't know, I never expected it that way – I'm not exactly the best looking bloke in the world with this big honk in the middle of my face."I never actually wanted to be some kind of lothario either, so I'm happy it seems to have changed over the last two years or so. Now I look out at my shows and its everyone from students to older couples, little kids, single people, which is great."I'm lucky in that they're all actually cool people who are into their music. But I am also conscious of being viewed as a bit middle of the road and I think my last album veered that way a bit, it lost its edge compared to the first album so I'm trying to do something change again with the third one."Morrison has also suffered slightly from being lumped in with other male solo artists with a similarly uplifting, radio friendly sound. From Paolo Nutini to James Blunt, the comparisons are easy, if not always fair. But he counts himself lucky to have been one of the first to emerge."When I first came along it was just before an influx of singer/songwriters came out," he says. "It just went mental for a while and there was always thatcomparison, which I understand."And every artist wonders about their success was it me or was my timing just good? And I think it's a bit of both really. I benefited from releasing my first batch of stuff in the summertime which always helps if you have that kind of sound."But I don't ever worry too much about how long I'll be around for. Every artist is conscious of it, of course they are, but you have to do what comes naturally and hope for the best. You can't try and force things a different way."There will be one slight difference on the next album: subject matter. The Rugby born singer now has a two year old daughter, Elsie, by his relationship with long-term partner Gill and admits it's been a thought provoking process of adjusting to being a family man as well as a rock star.He says: "Yeah, sometimes I fell like I should be 35, so much has happened to me. I've had to grow up a lot because on the first album I tried to go out and carry on having a good time, but my voice and my performance suffered."It feels like I've had an awakening of some kind and the last four years have definitely been a rollercoaster ride. I feel like a family man but if I get the opportunity to live it up on tour I do," he laughs, "so don't get me wrong."But I only get to do that because I go away a lot. I was in LA for two weeks and, even though it killed me being away from my daughter, at least I got some lie-ins and went to some bars and met some cool people. I admit I enjoy myself more than most people with kids."So he doesn't feel too fatigued by fame?"Oh no, it's not actually hard for me when it all comes down to it. I have a job I really enjoy and I get paid well and can give my family a nice home, buy my mum a car, I feel really privileged."Yes, it's hard to be away. But there's guys in the army who go away fighting, not knowing if they're coming back, that's the way I try to look at it."It's been tough keeping my relationship strong when I'm away, you come back and expect it to be good still and, you know, I've had problems with all that sort of stuff."But I now have a stronger sense of who I am. Having a kid has made me think about myself and about my upbringing, so I've tried to write songs about my dad, my brother, the birth of my daughter but nothing too obvious 'cos that would be just sickening."But whatever direction subject matter takes him in, fans of tunes like Broken Strings – Morrison's biggest hit to date – needn't expect a similar vibe to his new material.He says: "That was a one-off. It was something totally change, likely because it was me dueting with Nelly Furtado and stuff like that can just actually work and stuff but there's no use trying to repeat it."When I was working on the new album I had writers coming in and they were suggesting all these really big beats and I was like 'No! That's not what I want' they were trying to do the same kinda Broken Strings thing again."But that's a bit forced and I just want to do what comes to me. It's good to try new things and you're always gonna get some good songs and some not so good songs coming out but what matters it you do what comes naturally to you."But there's one aspect to becoming a hugely popular singer/songwriter that will never feel natural to Morrison – that's hearing his songs performed on TV shows like X Factor and Britain's Got Talent."There's a bit of me that always cringes when I hear someone singing You Give Me Something or whatever it is," he laughs. "But I supposed it's a nice measure of success that your stuff gets chosen like that."And in a weird way it's always good when someone comes on and butchers one of your songs, 'cos it kinda makes you sound better when you perform it yourself, you know what I mean?"
He's here to stake out the joint out ahead in the graond of his imminent gig of Leeds's most famous noble home, but couldn't have picked a worst day to do a photoshoot."It's not a problem, man," he laughs, brushing the rain from his hair. "They've put me through a hell of a lot worse making videos over the years, ya know, standing for eight hours in temperatures of minus 15 for eight hours without any long johns."They never appear to send me anywhere warm. It's either somewhere or Iceland or London or Canada, then they film me being thrown into a freezing tank of water or something. And wherever I go it it isn't always as beautiful as this place."Morrison drinks in the stunning view that is the Harewood estate. The bottom of the incline towards is the spot where, next month, he'll take to the stage before an audience of thousands He'll be taking a break from writing what will be his latest album it's hard to believe it's his third. Still only 25, he's now been in the spotlight for over four years and racked up a Brit award, not to reference an impressive number of instantly recognisable hits.You Give Me Something, Wonderful World, Broken Strings, all easy listening modern classics which have secured him an increasingly broad audience."It was all girls at first," he admits. "Just girls and embarrassed guys would turn up to my gigs. Maybe it's the lyrics, I don't know, I never expected it that way – I'm not exactly the best looking bloke in the world with this big honk in the middle of my face."I never actually wanted to be some kind of lothario either, so I'm happy it seems to have changed over the last two years or so. Now I look out at my shows and its everyone from students to older couples, little kids, single people, which is great."I'm lucky in that they're all actually cool people who are into their music. But I am also conscious of being viewed as a bit middle of the road and I think my last album veered that way a bit, it lost its edge compared to the first album so I'm trying to do something change again with the third one."Morrison has also suffered slightly from being lumped in with other male solo artists with a similarly uplifting, radio friendly sound. From Paolo Nutini to James Blunt, the comparisons are easy, if not always fair. But he counts himself lucky to have been one of the first to emerge."When I first came along it was just before an influx of singer/songwriters came out," he says. "It just went mental for a while and there was always thatcomparison, which I understand."And every artist wonders about their success was it me or was my timing just good? And I think it's a bit of both really. I benefited from releasing my first batch of stuff in the summertime which always helps if you have that kind of sound."But I don't ever worry too much about how long I'll be around for. Every artist is conscious of it, of course they are, but you have to do what comes naturally and hope for the best. You can't try and force things a different way."There will be one slight difference on the next album: subject matter. The Rugby born singer now has a two year old daughter, Elsie, by his relationship with long-term partner Gill and admits it's been a thought provoking process of adjusting to being a family man as well as a rock star.He says: "Yeah, sometimes I fell like I should be 35, so much has happened to me. I've had to grow up a lot because on the first album I tried to go out and carry on having a good time, but my voice and my performance suffered."It feels like I've had an awakening of some kind and the last four years have definitely been a rollercoaster ride. I feel like a family man but if I get the opportunity to live it up on tour I do," he laughs, "so don't get me wrong."But I only get to do that because I go away a lot. I was in LA for two weeks and, even though it killed me being away from my daughter, at least I got some lie-ins and went to some bars and met some cool people. I admit I enjoy myself more than most people with kids."So he doesn't feel too fatigued by fame?"Oh no, it's not actually hard for me when it all comes down to it. I have a job I really enjoy and I get paid well and can give my family a nice home, buy my mum a car, I feel really privileged."Yes, it's hard to be away. But there's guys in the army who go away fighting, not knowing if they're coming back, that's the way I try to look at it."It's been tough keeping my relationship strong when I'm away, you come back and expect it to be good still and, you know, I've had problems with all that sort of stuff."But I now have a stronger sense of who I am. Having a kid has made me think about myself and about my upbringing, so I've tried to write songs about my dad, my brother, the birth of my daughter but nothing too obvious 'cos that would be just sickening."But whatever direction subject matter takes him in, fans of tunes like Broken Strings – Morrison's biggest hit to date – needn't expect a similar vibe to his new material.He says: "That was a one-off. It was something totally change, likely because it was me dueting with Nelly Furtado and stuff like that can just actually work and stuff but there's no use trying to repeat it."When I was working on the new album I had writers coming in and they were suggesting all these really big beats and I was like 'No! That's not what I want' they were trying to do the same kinda Broken Strings thing again."But that's a bit forced and I just want to do what comes to me. It's good to try new things and you're always gonna get some good songs and some not so good songs coming out but what matters it you do what comes naturally to you."But there's one aspect to becoming a hugely popular singer/songwriter that will never feel natural to Morrison – that's hearing his songs performed on TV shows like X Factor and Britain's Got Talent."There's a bit of me that always cringes when I hear someone singing You Give Me Something or whatever it is," he laughs. "But I supposed it's a nice measure of success that your stuff gets chosen like that."And in a weird way it's always good when someone comes on and butchers one of your songs, 'cos it kinda makes you sound better when you perform it yourself, you know what I mean?"
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