Biography

James Graham is from Lochinver in Assynt and grew up in a home where music and song were an important part of family life.

When he was about nine years old, he began competing at the local and national Mòd, encouraged by Kenneth MacKenzie, his headmaster, and his grandfather's brother's wife, Geordina Murray of Achiltibuie, with whom he spent many hours learning about songs and history.

At Ullapool High School, he learned pipes under the tutelage of Norman Gillies, and although singing was his main subject at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), he also continued with piping. In 2003, he graduated with a BA (Honours) in Scottish Music.

He himself has said that the encouragement he received from the singer Kenna Campbell [1830], who taught him at the RSAMD, gave him the confidence to take part in the competition BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2004. He was the first male to win the competition and the first Gaelic singer.

James won the Gold Medal at the Lochaber Royal National Mòd in 2007. He has taken part in many television and radio programmes since then and has sung in many places.