‘I had to learn to speak again’: How deafness helped singer James Vickery find his sound

Published

4 years ago

July 21, 2021

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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.

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.

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

Which celebrities are attending Donald Trump’s inauguration?

Published

13 hours ago

January 20, 2025

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Which celebrities are attending Donald Trump's inauguration?

Donald Trump will be sworn in as US president on 20 January in Washington DC, to being his second stint in the biggest job in politics.

A national holiday thanks to the fact it coincides with Martin Luther King Jr Day, spectators can expect an event full of pomp, pageantry and entertainment.

Back at his first inauguration in 2017, Mr Trump appeared to struggle to rustle up celebrity attendees – so who might we see turn up second time around?

Political figures and world leaders

Outgoing president Joe Biden, 82, will attend his successor’s inauguration. It was a pleasantry not performed by Mr Trump during Mr Biden’s inauguration in 2020, which Mr Trump – who claimed the election had been stolen from him – chose to skip.

It’s also traditional for all living former presidents to attend the inauguration, so Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton are all likely to attend. Former first lady, Michelle Obama, however, will not be attending.

Mr Trump has also invited world leaders this year for the first time.

Mr Trump’s new efficiency tsar and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is attending the event and reportedly will be seated alongside fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has confirmed his attendance, and says he hopes to “mend any broken fences” with Mr Musk after a recent social media spat between the two.

Official acts

The Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee kept its cards close to its chest until just a few days before the inauguration.

Musical performances are a staple of the event, with a marching band, and various inauguration galas throughout the evening. Stars including Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and John Legend have been part of past shows for previous presidents.

This year’s acts have a distinctly Country flavour, with big names including Billy Ray Cyrus and Kid Rock – both of whom endorsed Mr Trump at the 2024 election.

Rock, 53, whose real name is Robert James Richie, has been a vocal supporter of the Republican Party and the president-elect for many years.

He previously sang ahead of Mr Trump’s speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention in July and joined Mr Trump’s entourage at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in November.

Rock will join country singer Cyrus, 63, who is the father of pop star Miley Cyrus – a vocal critic of Mr Trump – at the Make America Great Again Rally at Capital One Arena in Washington on Sunday, along with a choir from Liberty University, which is a private evangelical Christian school in Virginia.

Alongside being Miley’s dad, Billy Ray is most famous for his 1990s country hit Achy Breaky Heart.

They will be joined by country singer Jason Aldean, singer and saxophonist Lee Greenwood and The Village People at The Liberty Ball on Monday night, along with a “surprise musical guest”.

Aldean, 47, is a five-time Grammy nominee and the performer of the controversial country song Try That In A Small Town, which he dedicated to Mr Trump after the attempt on his life in July.

Greenwood sang God Bless The USA at the inauguration eight years ago and was a staple at Trump campaign rallies last year. He has said he’s “excited” to sing for his “friend” Mr Trump “yet again”.

Meanwhile, country group Rascal Flatts will be at the Commander-in-Chief Ball, focused on military service members, with Texas-based singer-songwriter Parker McCollum.

Rascal Flatts frontman Gary LeVox wrote on Instagram that he was “happy and humbled and grateful for the opportunity”. LeVox played at Mr Trump’s first inauguration and promised it will be a “night to remember”, thanking South Dakota governor Kristi Noem in his post.

The Starlight Ball, which focuses on high-worth donors, will feature a performance from Gavin DeGraw, a singer-songwriter best known for the song I Don’t Want To Be, which was used as the theme song for the TV show One Tree Hill.

Previously confirmed acts include American Idol star Carrie Underwood who is arguably the biggest name on the bill.

The eight-time Grammy winner will sing America The Beautiful alongside the Armed Forces Choir and the US Naval Academy Glee Club shortly before Mr Trump takes the oath of office.

Commenting on her part in the day, Underwood said in a statement: “I love our country and am honoured to have been asked to sing at the inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event”. The 41-year-old singer has previously kept her political views private.

Classical singer Christopher Macchio will sing Oh, America! before the vice-presidential oath of office with JD Vance, and will close the ceremony with a rendition of the American National Anthem.

Victor Willis, frontman of the Village People, previously announced the band had accepted an invitation to perform at the inauguration, telling their fans in a post on Facebook: “We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics.

“Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost,” he added.

“Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music, which is why Village People will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J Trump.”

Willis last month defended Mr Trump’s use of Y.M.C.A. at campaign rallies and denied that the song is a “gay anthem”.

The 1978 disco hit spiked in listenership in November after it secured a spot on Mr Trump’s campaign playlist, according to Sky News’ US partner, NBC News.

Who else could be there?

Actor Jon Voight, who was recently appointed as “a special envoy” to Hollywood following the California wildfires and who is a vocal supporter of Mr Trump, spoke at his last inauguration – so it seems possible we could see a repeat performance.

And singer Mary Millben sang the national anthem at both Mr Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and the Republican National Convention back in July.

One wildcard potential guest could be Kanye West, who has been a vocal supporter of Mr Trump in the past, and who met with him in the Oval Office back in 2018.

When asked earlier this year if he would be voting Republican, West told reporters: “Yeah, of course. It’s Trump all day.”

Who performed at Trump’s last inauguration?

Classical singer Jackie Evancho, a former America’s Got Talent contestant, sang the national anthem at Mr Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, calling it a “huge honour” to perform for the president.

But the young star, who has a transgender sister, did later say she was “disappointed” by Mr Trump’s decision to roll back on transgender rights.

Meanwhile, country singer Toby Keith was arguably the biggest name on the bill the first time around. He died from stomach cancer last February.

Other acts who performed in 2017 include The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, rock band 3 Doors Down, DJ Ravidrums and musical group The Piano Guys.

Prime-time TV show?

In 2021, Joe Biden’s inauguration included a prime-time inauguration day TV programme hosted by Tom Hanks.

Celebrating America featured performances from acts including Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake.

It’s not known if a similar programme will be aired following Mr Trump’s inauguration this year.

Entertainment

Director Claire van Kampen dies on husband Mark Rylance’s birthday

Published

2 days ago

January 18, 2025

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Director Claire van Kampen has died, aged 71, on the 65th birthday of her husband, Sir Mark Rylance.

Entertainment

Cameron Diaz says retirement from acting was ‘best 10 years of my life’

Published

2 days ago

January 18, 2025

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Cameron Diaz says retirement from acting was 'best 10 years of my life'

Cameron Diaz has said her decade-long retirement from acting was “the best 10 years of my life”.

The actress, 52, has partnered with Jamie Foxx for the Netflix blockbuster Back In Action, marking her first role since playing Miss Hannigan in the 2014 remake of Annie.

Speaking on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show alongside Foxx, Diaz said of her temporary retirement: “Oh my God, I loved it. It was the best 10 years of my life.”

She said she was “just free” to be a mum, a wife and to live her life somewhat privately.

“It was so lovely,” she added, saying that her eventual return to acting “made sense for my family” as they wanted to “switch it up a little bit”.

The Hollywood star, whose acting debut came in 1994 hit comedy The Mask, said she had turned down roles for years during her retirement until people “stopped asking” – but added she didn’t want to turn down the role alongside Foxx.

“If I’m going to leave my family for 10 hours a day – I want to do it with… the most talented man in entertainment,” she said of Foxx, 57, who she also co-starred alongside in Annie.

The Holiday star added: “It’s just a privilege to do this. I thought to myself, if I just like, let this go away, all of this goodwill that I got to build over so much time, the passion that I have for entertaining people and making movies that make people smile and laugh and have a good time… if I don’t engage in that again… then I would be a fool.”

Diaz, who had her second child with husband Benji Madden in March last year, told Norton she was back for “at least” this film, later adding: “This is maybe the beginning, maybe I’ll tiptoe in, maybe I’ll just go like gung ho! I don’t know.”

She has also filmed the upcoming Apple TV+ black comedy Outcome alongside Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill.