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Alex James
Birth name	Stephen Alexander James
Born	November 21, 1968 (1968-11-21) (age 39)
Origin	Bournemouth, England
Genre(s)	Alternative Rock, Britpop, Electronica
Occupation(s)	Bassist, songwriter, Author
Instrument(s)	Bass
Years active	1988 - present
Associated acts	Blur Fat Les WigWam Me Me Me
Website	Blur

Alex James (born Stephen Alexander James, 21 November 1968, in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, England) was the bass player with Blur, and also played with temporary bands, Fat Les, Me Me Me and Wigwam.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 2.1 Family 2.2 Former vegetarianism 2.3 Space obsession 3 Recent 4 Trivia 5 Footnotes 6 External links

James met future band mate Graham Coxon at Goldsmiths College, where the two were studying, and was introduced to Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree, who at the time were part of a band called Circus. He eventually joined the three's new band, Seymour in 1989, which would later be renamed Blur. He has remained in the band since.

Unlike his band mates Albarn and Coxon, James has not released any solo material, although he has been involved in other side projects. In 1998 James formed Fat Les with Keith Allen, Damien Hirst and others, and released (amongst others) the World Cup single "Vindaloo", which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. He also worked on a side project called Me Me Me with Stephen Duffy, and has co-written songs for Marianne Faithfull and Sophie Ellis Bextor. James worked with Bextor on a couple of tracks on her solo debut album Read My Lips. He co-wrote and co-produced "Move This Mountain", and co-produced "I Believe" along with Sophie Ellis Bextor and Ben Hillier. He also played the bass on both tracks. Ellis Bextor's 2003 album, Shoot From The Hip also features James on it. He co-wrote "Love Is It Love" and again plays bass guitar. He also joined his friend and singer-songwriter Betty Boo, in a band called WigWam.

James writes for the British newspapers The Independent and The Observer, as well as Q magazines and The Idler (whom he represented in a team on BBC2's University Challenge: the Professionals in summer 2005 in a team also featuring John Moore of Black Box Recorder; they had a heavy win over The Financial Times in their heat, but did not score highly enough to return for the tournament's later stages). He also presented the Evening Sequence on BBC 6 Music as a stand-in for Tom Robinson between 8-26 August 2005 where he amusingly quipped that it was he who had invented Justin Timberlake's catchphrase "I am going to have you naked by the end of this song." James has subsequently mentioned this, most likely, erroneous claim in a number of later articles in the Idler.

In October 2006, he became one of the presenters of The Tube which ran until 1st March 2007 and was broadcast on Channel 4 Radio. In 2007 Alex was a judge on the Channel four show Mobile Acts Unsigned. In November 2007, James was featured as a panellist on popular BBC One satirical news quiz Have I Got News for You.

James is married to Claire Neate, a video producer. They have three sons: Geronimo (born 16 February 2004), and premature twin boys (born 28 April 2006), Artemis and Galileo.

James was a vegetarian for 17 years, then reverted to being a meat eater when he moved to a sheep farm where he intends to start making cheese.

He has a serious interest in space and space travel, which led him to involve Blur in helping the ill-fated Beagle 2 project, producing the Mars probe's signature tune. His obsession with space is further documented by the track "Far Out" on the Blur album Parklife, on which James sings a list of moons and stars. After studying at bath university for 2 years he gained a honours degree in astrophysics. On 25 January 2007 James became the "Artist in Residence" in the Astrophysics department at the University of Oxford^[1].

• James is now making video pod casts documenting his cheese making venture for Guardian Unlimited

• He is involved with promoting the RSA's research and campaign into Personal carbon trading.

• On February 11, 2007, James appeared in the four-part fictional jury show The Verdict.

• On May 29, 2007, He appeared on Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word, where he discussed drinking breast-milk and persuaded Ramsay to try some in a cappuccino.

• His autobiography, A Bit Of A Blur, was released on June 7, 2007.

• On July 8 2007, James made an appearance on the BBC show Something For The Weekend, where he assisted in making baked alaska.

• His favourite Blur album is Modern Life Is Rubbish.
• Alex James's first column for The Spectator, Titled 'Art is the Drug' appeared on the 10th October 2007 - see link -

http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/life-and-lives/246846/art-is-the-drug.thtml Followed by one on the 24th October 2007 in which he spends time with the Colombian special forces, titled 'Black Hawk Down'.

• He has a thickening of the lobe on his right ear, often attributed to skull clashes with Graham Coxon during the recording of Modern Life is Rubbish.

• Alex James: the cheese diaries, episode 2
• Alex James: the cheese diaries, episode 1
• Alex James interview
• Alex James gives up vegetarianism after 17 years
• Article on Alex James and cheese manufacture
• Heyoka Magazine Interview with John LeKay
• Alex James' most recent article for the Independent

v • d • e Blur
Damon Albarn · Alex James · Dave Rowntree · Graham Coxon
Albums	Leisure · Modern Life Is Rubbish · Parklife · The Great Escape · Blur · 13 · Think Tank
Compilations	The Special Collectors Edition · Live at the Budokan · Bustin' + Dronin' · The 10 Year Limited Edition Anniversary Box Set · Blur: The Best of
Related articles	Discography · Food Records · Honest Jon's · Stephen Street · Transcopic · The Battle of Britpop
Other projects	The Ailerons · Fat Les · The Good, the Bad and the Queen · Gorillaz · Me Me Me · WigWam