Duncan James (born Duncan Matthew James Inglis, April 7, 1978, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England) was a singer in the boy band Blue and is now a solo artist. He is best known for his soul voice.
James grew up in Dorset and was raised primarily by his grandparents. He starred in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 15, and played Puck. He also played Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes when he was a teenager.
In early 2000, James, along with Antony Costa, convinced Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe to form the group Blue. Blue's R&B-influenced pop allowed the group to achieve commercial success in the United Kingdom and many other countries, including Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. From May 2001, when the group released its first single, "All Rise," to 2004, when the group released its final chart-qualifying single, "Curtain Falls," Blue had 11 top ten singles in the UK.
Though Blue has never formally announced its permanent breakup, it split in July 2005 and all four members have moved on to solo careers. James has criticized the solo efforts of some of his former bandmates, referring to Ryan's first album as "rushed" and Costa's bid to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest as "cheesy."
In October 2004, James collaborated with Keedie to release the single "I Believe My Heart", which entered the UK singles chart at #2. He returned to the solo music scene in May 2006 with his single "Sooner or Later", releasing the video in early May and planning to release the single commercially on June 5, 2006. The video reached #2 on The Box and #5 on The Hits. However, the single sold poorly and entered the UK charts at #35, slipping down to #72 in its second week before completely exiting the top 100.
Duncan's album also fell short, selling less than 6000 copies in its first week and not even breaking the top 40.
James has worked occasionally as a television presenter, having presented the 95.8 Capital FM's Party in the Park for the Prince's Trust (2003 and 2004), and the TV series Soapstar Superstar, along with Jayne Middlemiss on ITV2.
James has a daughter named Tianie-Finn, born in 2005 to an ex-girlfriend whose name is only known as "Claire". (He refuses to reveal her complete name) He has been quoted numerous times expressing his frustration with the media's constant obsession with who he is having a relationship with.
Nevertheless, as is true for many celebrities, his love life has been a focus of frequent media speculation.
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