‘I had to learn to speak again’: How deafness helped singer James Vickery find his sound
Behind James Vickery’s left ear is a tiny tattoo, barely noticeable until he turns to point it out.
The inking is of a mute icon, a small speaker with a cross next to it, as you would see on a computer or a phone when switching the volume off; a simple image that neatly symbolises the 27-year-old’s story.
In and out of hospital with ear infections as a child, he was eventually, at the age of eight, diagnosed with a growth of abnormal skin cells called a cholesteatoma. While the tumour wasn’t cancerous his case was severe, doctors said, and it was growing towards his brain; his parents were told that without treatment to remove his eardrum he might only have two months to live.
Vickery has just released his debut album, Songs That Made Me Feel. Pic: Tom Ewbank
Surgery went well, but inevitably left Vickery completely deaf in that ear. Unable to distinguish the volume and pitch of his voice, he struggled with his speech and a vocal coach was brought in to help. It was through these sessions he found his voice; not just in conversation, but the distinctive, soulful singing voice that has now seen him hailed as a new face of UK R’n’B.
“[My parents] took me to a vocal coach and they wanted me to learn how to basically speak again,” he tells Sky News. “A good way is actually by singing because it engages your diaphragm. So we did that and my singing teacher was like, ‘you can sing, you can actually sing well’. I’d always loved singing but because of the trauma of the operation I could never do it.
“I spoke so softly. I’m still quite softly spoken…” He pauses and grins. “Actually, no, I’m a bit gobby now, but I was quite softly spoken when I was a child. I was really unconfident because no one could ever hear me speak and so credit to my vocal coach, she really taught me how to not only speak louder, but become a bigger person, you know, really fill the room with your voice. That’s something I try and have now in my songs. All the singers I looked up to as a kid had big voices because I always wished I had one.”
Vickery’s coach was a trained opera singer so, perhaps unusually, that’s where he started. “As, like, an 11-year-old boy living in south London, that kind of wasn’t for me,” he laughs. He met brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence, better known as electronic duo Disclosure, while he was in college and began writing songs with them, before moving into R’n’B, which felt like the right fit.
Upbeat and constantly smiling, there’s a sense of positivity and happiness that exudes from Vickery that even the often soulless Zoom can’t dampen. It’s hard not to smile back in his company. Going through such a traumatic experience at an early age has “100%, for sure” made him the person and the artist he is now, he says.
“I would have died,” he says, matter-of-factly. “It’s lucky they found it [when they did].” He goes on to explain the surgery. “I haven’t even got an ear drum in this ear, like, it’s just a black crater inside the left-hand side,” he says, swirling his hand around the area. “But that’s why I’ve got the tattoo, because I was like, not ashamed of it, but I don’t like people treating me different, I don’t like it to become this sob story. But at the end of the day, the older I get the more I think, you would not be the man you are today and it’s shaped me so much as a singer and a writer as well.”
The fact Vickery is “able to be a singer with one less ear than everyone else”, as he puts it, “is quite a mad thing”. And so the symbol has become a staple of all the artwork for his music. “I really try and own it, you know.”
Influenced by everyone from his mum’s favourites of soul, Motown, disco and R’n’B – artists such as Luther Vandross, Boyz II Men and Babyface – to his dad’s preferred rock and blues – Eric Clapton, The Doors, The Who, Jimi Hendrix – and his own love of attempting the Mariah Carey high notes, Vickery found his sound.
Vickery has been hailed as a new face of UK R’n’B. Pic: Harry McCulloch
In 2018, he performed his song Until Morning for the COLORS music platform, which has now amassed more than 25 million views. In 2018 he signed a record deals with TH3RD BRAIN, followed by a publishing deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019.
His debut album, Songs That Made Me Feel, aims to do just that. “The way that people consume music is so passive now,” he says. “It’s so easily accessible but I think not enough people just sit down and let the music take over. That’s really what I tried to do… I just want to make a body of work that’s going to outlive me. I think I’ve done that.”
The record is “the journey of the last two years, for me”, he says. “I wanted to call it Songs That Made Me Feel is because I feel like, as a man growing up, men are taught not to show emotion, I think. You’re taught ‘man up’.” Men don’t talk about their feelings enough, he says. “I managed to be able to do that through song, luckily.”
Save You, the closing track on the album, might sound like a love song but is actually about a friend who died. “I left it quite open because I want people to interpret it in the way that they feel, I love doing that with songs. But the song is about a friend who died when I was younger and it was the first time I had someone that wasn’t like a family member die, who was close to me.”
Vickery has also written about struggling during the pandemic. Somewhere Out There was created during the first lockdown, when he was “living alone and really lonely… I was single and hoping that someone out there was feeling the same”. You Comfort Me was born from the “dark time” of the winter lockdown, when “I was just craving something to make me happy”.
Of all the industries that have been hit by the pandemic, he believes the live entertainment business is among the worst affected. Vickery is not “completely fresh” to making music but is in that “awkward” spot where he’s “by no means up there”, he says, gesturing above his head. He moves his hand down. “I’m hovering here somewhere.”
Which means it’s not been easy. “The way that the music industry runs now is that [live shows] are kind of the main source of income, no one makes that much money from streaming songs; unless you’re streaming hundreds of millions, then you’re going to make good money, but other than that, no. Thank God I signed a record deal the year before because otherwise I would have been really struggling.”
Fortunately, the deal was in place and the album is out now. Vickery says he hopes he adds another voice to highlight the UK’s new resurging R’n’B scene, which he feels is overlooked.
“The thing is the UK RnB scene is so, so good,” he says. “But God forbid you can ever turn on a radio and find an R’n’B song on in the daytime, you know. I feel like that’s going to change, though. There’s plenty of people like Jorja Smith and Mahalia who are really, really flying the flag for UK R’n’B, and I think that’s going to change hopefully in the future.”
With Vickery too, that change is surely closer. That tattoo behind his ear is just a small reminder of how much he can achieve.
Entertainment
‘An enigma’ to the end: John le Carré’s son on his father – and how his legacy lives on
Writing 26 books and a memoir in his lifetime, John le Carré is widely considered to be one of the best spy novelists of all time.
His son, Simon Cornwell, told Sky News: “I think there was only one thing that was more important to him than his family and that was his writing.”
Rory Keenand and Mat Betteridge in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Pic: Johan Persson
Tom Hiddleston returns in season two of The Night Manager. Pic: BBC/Ink Factory/Des Willie
First gaining attention in 1963 with his breakout novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, cementing his reputation 10 years later with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, his work is now enjoying a resurgence.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold has been adapted for the stage for the first time, with confirmation of a TV series to follow, while another of his works, The Night Manager, premieres its second season starring Tom Hiddleston in the new year.
There are further productions waiting in the wings, plus an unfinished le Carré play with the potential to be developed.
And archives of le Carré’s work – containing over 1,200 boxes of material – have gone on display at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.
Writing under a pen name, le Carré, who was born David Cornwell, died in December 2020.
His elder sons, Simon and Stephen, now manage the film, TV and stage rights of his work through their studio The Ink Factory, while his youngest son, Nick, expands the George Smiley universe.
(R-L) Nick Harkaway, John Le Carré, and Simon, Stephen and Tim Cornwell. Pic: Clare Cornwell
Smiley’s continuation ‘could have gone horribly wrong’
One of le Carré’s most well-known creations, Smiley was the antidote to James Bond – bespectacled, balding and a little out of shape – and a recurring character in le Carré’s books.
Simon says Nick, who has two more Smiley books in the pipeline, was “taking on a big risk” developing the character, but insists, “he is the only person who could have done it and done it that well”.
He goes on: “He could find my father’s voice… he grew up talking every day to my dad, as we did, and he just knows at an instinctive level what’s important…
“There are so many ways in which it could have gone horribly wrong, and it went brilliantly right.”
Nick Harkaway with his first Smiley continuation novel, Karla’s Choice. Pic: AP
‘A family enterprise’
Explaining how they all work together – calling it a “family enterprise in the best of ways” – Simon explains: “A lot of authors, when they die, they leave very strict instructions to their children, their estate as to how things should be managed and lots of rules and restrictions and everything else. My dad didn’t do that.”
Le Carré’s fourth son, Tim, sadly died aged 59 in 2022, shortly after editing a collection of his father’s letters, titled A Private Spy.
Le Carré is by no means the only author whose legacy lives on via others.
Announcing a staggered retirement, Lee Child passed his hit creation Jack Reacher on to his younger brother Andrew in 2020.
PG Wodehouse’s much-loved Jeeves and Wooster stories have been rewritten this Christmas by celebrity fans including Frank Skinner and Alan Titchmarsh, half a century after his death.
Daniel Craig at the No Time To Die world premiere in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Staying part of the conversation is key
While Ian Fleming’s James Bond has been continued by 15 authors so far, and spilling into the young adult genre, capturing a whole new generation of readers.
Mark Edlitz, intellectual expert and author of The Many Lives Of James Bond, told Sky News such continuations are essential to the survival of the work.
Author Mark Edlitz has written about the Bond continuation novels
“We have seen all these detectives and spies who don’t have a movie series or a TV series to bolster their eyeballs, and then they fade from public view.
“These books and movies help keep the author’s work present and viable and part of the public conversation.”
Sarah Baxter, senior contracts advisor for The Society of Authors, says remaining relevant and visible has another big benefit too.
“That kind of partnership can go on to give a whole new lease of life to works that may have been written many, many years ago, and it can go on to generate a lot of income for a literary estate.”
Le Carré – an enigma, even to his family, to the end. Pic: AP
‘An enigma’
More than 60 million copies of Le Carré’s books have been sold worldwide, with new adaptations likely to boost those sales further.
But Simon Cornwell says the investment in his father’s work is about more than just profits.
“We became very, very close as a family because he was very keen to be a proper dad and we were working with him and his material as well, so it was particularly towards the end of his life. It was a beautiful, thrilling thing.”
A master storyteller, the moral ambiguity of the fictional world he constructed reflected back on to its creator.
Simon says: “He remained an enigma. I think in some ways he was probably an enigma to himself…
“He was an extraordinary man to be close with, but do you ever understand somebody like that? Probably not.”
His work more widespread than ever, but the man himself – still a mystery.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is at @sohoplace in London’s West End to 21 February before embarking on a UK Tour.
John le Carré: Tradecraft is at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford until 6 April.
Entertainment
Primal Scream says video with alleged antisemitic imagery shown at gig was meant to provoke debate
Primal Scream have said a video containing alleged antisemitic imagery was a “piece of art” and was intended to “provoke debate, not hate”.
Warning: This article contains alleged antisemitic imagery.
The Scottish rock band have been reported to the Metropolitan Police for showing a film at their Roundhouse concert in Camden, London on Monday which appeared to include imagery of the Star of David entwined with a swastika.
The force is now assessing the report.
‘Film is a piece of art’
Primal Scream said in a statement on Instagram: “The film is a piece of art. It clearly draws from history to question where the actions of current world governments sit in that context. It is meant to provoke debate, not hate.
“In a free, pluralistic and liberal society freedom of expression is a right which we choose to exercise.”
Primal Scream, founded by frontman Bobby Gillespie in 1982, were playing a 25-year anniversary show for their album XTRMNTR.
As the group performed Swastika Eyes, pictures of political figures including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared behind them, showing what appeared to be the Star of David combined with a swastika in their eyes.
The video from the gig that sparked the report to police
Venue ‘appalled’
The Roundhouse has apologised, saying it was “appalled” that “antisemitic imagery was displayed”, adding it was done entirely without its knowledge.
It said in a statement: “We deeply regret that these highly offensive images were presented on our stage and unequivocally apologise to anyone who attended the gig and to the wider Jewish community.”
It added: “Our organisation absolutely condemns antisemitism in every form.”
Call for ‘urgent investigation’
The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, said it had reported the band to police and called on the venue to carry out an “urgent investigation”.
In a statement, a CST spokesperson said: “CST is appalled by the grossly antisemitic image displayed at Primal Scream. Entwining a Star of David with a swastika implies that Jews are Nazis and risks encouraging hatred of Jews.
“There needs to be an urgent investigation by the venue and the promoter about how this happened, and we have reported this to the police.”
What have police said?
Responding to that report, a Met Police spokesperson said: “On Wednesday, 10 December, we received a report in relation to a video shown on stage during a concert at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm Road, Camden on Monday, 8 December.
“It is being assessed by officers.”
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‘Unadulterated hatred’
The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Nazi swastika represents the ideology that inspired people to industrially slaughter six million innocent Jewish men, women and children by bullet, gas and any other means available.
“To visually combine that with the Star of David – the pre-eminent symbol of Judaism – is absolutely sickening and totally inexcusable.
“This isn’t art. This isn’t edgy. This isn’t political statement. It is unadulterated hatred and a clear breach of the international definition of antisemitism.
“We will be writing to the Camden Roundhouse and our legal team is examining the footage to consider further steps.”
Author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has said.
Trollope was one of the nation’s most widely read authors, having published more than 30 novels during a career that began in the 1970s.
Her novels include “Aga sagas” The Rector’s Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters-in-Law.
In a statement, Trollope’s daughters Antonia and Louise said: “Our beloved and inspirational mother Joanna Trollope has died peacefully at her Oxfordshire home, on December 11, aged 82.”
Trollope with Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. Pic: PA
Her literary agent James Gill said: “It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.
“Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and – of course – her readers.”
Trollope was born in Gloucestershire in 1943. She won a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in the 1960s.
After graduating, she joined the Foreign Office before training as a teacher and then turning to writing full-time in 1980.
The author was best known for her novels set in rural middle England and centred around domestic life and relationships.
Her early historical romances were written under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, before she turned to contemporary fiction.
Her work tackled a range of topics from affairs, blended families and adoption, to parenting and marital breakdown.
Trollope with shortlisted novels for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Pic: PA
Trollope also took part in The Austen Project, which saw six of Jane Austen’s novels retold by contemporary writers.
She wrote the first book in the series, Sense & Sensibility, published in 2013.
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In 1996, Trollope was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to literature and later made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019.
She won the Romantic Novel of the Year in 1980 for the book Parson Harding’s Daughter and in 2010 was given a lifetime achievement award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) for her services to romance.
She went on to chair a number of award ceremonies, including the Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Prize, as well as the BBC National Short Story Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction.
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