James began his career at London’s Metropolis Studios in 2003, balancing night shifts as a security guard with postgraduate studies in music. It was there, during the quiet hours of the studio, that he caught the attention of producers and quickly built a reputation as an arranger and orchestrator. Before long, he was orchestrating & arranging strings for recording artists including Ronan Keating, Martha Wainwright, Jeff Beck, the Bee Gees, Simple Minds, Melanie C, Luciano Pavarotti and Simply Red.

He later moved into film music, assisting acclaimed composers Dario Marianelli and Patrick Doyle before establishing himself as a sought after orchestrator. His work has taken him to studios across the world, collaborating with composers including Eric Neveux, Atli Örvarsson, Alex Somers and Gabriel Yared to name just a few.

Alongside orchestration, James has built a diverse career as a composer for film and television, with commissions from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Netflix and YouTube Premium. His credits include the BAFTA-nominated The Undercover Police Scandal: Love & Lies Exposed (ITV/RAW), Catching Killers (Netflix/RAW), The Sidemen Show (YouTube Premium) and Tronji (CBBC/Ragdoll).

His feature film work includes London Symphony, Alex Barrett’s acclaimed black-and-white silent feature, and The Patrol, directed by Tom Petch and winner of the Raindance Film Festival.

From 2019 until 2020, James worked for Bleeding Fingers Music/Sony in Los Angeles as an in-house composer.

Now based in London, James works out of his Thames side studio in Greenwich.