At the ripe old age of 21, James Morrison became an overnight sensation in the U.K. with the release of his debut album, Undiscovered, which wasted little time going platinum in the British Isles after it was released in the summer of 2006. 

Morrison was born in the West Midlands town of Rugby, where he soaked up the influence of his parents' record collection -- his mother was a fan of soul music, especially Otis Redding, Van Morrison, and Al Green, while his dad was big on country and classic folk such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. While he's been short on specifics, Morrison has alluded to an unhappy childhood touched by poverty and illness -- describing Rugby, he told a journalist that "[t]he best thing is I've got memories of being a kid there and the worst thing is I've got memories of being a kid there" -- and early on he struck out on his own, earning pocket money by busking on the streets of Porth, a village near the Cornish coast. Morrison worked odd jobs across the country while writing songs and playing gigs whenever he could.

Morrison's big break came when a demo of his material caught the ear of an A&R man at Polydor Records. Morrison was quickly signed to the label, and he went into the studio with producer Martin Terefe to record the 13 original songs that comprise Undiscovered, which hit the streets in August 2006. A well-received appearance on Jools Holland's chat show Later and an opening slot on Corinne Bailey Rae's British concert tour made Morrison a name to watch, and his songs "You Give Me Something" and "The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore" became major hits in the U.K. In January 2007, Morrison played a short tour of the United States as the buzz about his album began to cross the ocean.   

For 2008, Morrison continued to expand his artistry among others collaborating with Jason Mraz on “Details In The Fabric" on Mraz's new studio album, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which eventually was released on 13 May 2008. 

With success growing around him, Morrison wrote his album and debuted “You Make it Real" before releasing his 2^nd full effort Songs for You, Truth for Me.

The writing process allowed him to work with Ryan Tedder, Martin Terefe, Martin Brammar and Steve Robson. The album also features a duet with Nelly Furtado entitled "Broken Strings" which presently plays on MTV Europe and is gaining popularity.  Certainly we will see more of this artist whose best is definitely yet to come; he's our artist of the week.

[sources: allmusic/wikipedia]