Jamie Cullum: I owe it all to Michael Parkinson

Nov 20 2009 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

Jamie Cullum’s success is down to a certain white-haired chat show host. Polly Weeks talks to the pint-sized singer

IT WAS a battle of housewives’ favourites last month when tickets for Jamie Cullum and Michael Bublé were put on sale within days of each other.

Bublé’s Echo Arena gig sold out in a morning, and there are just a few tickets left for Cullum’s, at the Philharmonic Hall.

He’s the UK’s biggest jazz artist and releases his fifth album, The Pursuit, this week. But, if it wasn’t for an appearance on Parkinson, life could be very different for the scruffy-haired Essex boy.

Back in 2003, having already released two albums, Cullum was struggling to receive mainstream recognition.

Then Parkinson, who was impressed by the pint-sized singer-pianist, took a chance and invited him on to his TV show.

With Cullum’s jazz-pop style, he quickly wooed the audience – and the industry bosses.

His performance sparked a bidding war to sign the musician, with Cullum eventually plumping for Universal records.

The whirlwind period was the culmination of years of hard work.

Cullum’s passion for music started in childhood when he looked up to his big brother, Ben.

“My brother was a musician and I guess I just copied him,” he says.

“I thought he looked cool when he’d play Eddie Van Halen guitar solos in his bedroom. I thought ‘I’ll have a go at that’.”

It wasn’t long before music had consumed the school boy.

“Music was what I grabbed onto as a teenager,” says the 30-year-old.

“At school, some were the football kids, some the school swots, I guess I was the music guy. I was always listening to music or talking about music.”

While he kept up with his favourite hobby throughout his teens, when he attended university his educational path shifted as he took a degree in English and film studies.