Nineties indie band unrecognisable 33 years after huge hit, onstage fight and selling 25 million albums
NINETIES music fans will be left doing a double take after seeing what one huge band from the era looks like now.
But although the nine-member group had several big hits in the 90s, they insist they are more successful now.
James are best known for their massive songs Sit Down, Come Home and She’s A Star, and this year they bagged another UK Number 1.
In April, the band received the accolade for their most recent studio album, Yummy.
In a video shared on Instagram, lead singer Tim Booth said: “We really appreciate this and would really like to thank our amazing fans who have stuck with us for 42 years. Crazy people!”
James hails from Manchester and formed in the 80s. However, there was a line-up change before the band achieved commercial success.
In 1988, drummer Gavan Whelan was asked to leave James following an on-stage fight with Booth.
James was performing at a college ball when the fight happened and it led to Whelan being forced to quit.
A year later, James released their original version of Sit Down, which was eight-and-a-half-minutes long, and it charted at number 77.
But in 1991, a new and shorter version of the song pricked up the ears of the nation and shot to Number 2 in the UK singles chart.
James was nominated for Best New Group at both the Smash Hits Awards and Radio One Awards, while Sit Down was nominated for a Brit Award.
James’ Greatest Hits album hit the Number 1 spot in 1998 and they have continued to record new music ever since.
The band has undergone several line-up changes too, and is now made up of Booth, Jim Glennie, David Baynton-Power, Saul Davies, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Adrian Oxaal, Chloe Alper and Debbie Knox-Hewson.
Worldwide, the indie group has sold a staggering 25million records.
Earlier this year, ahead of the launch of Yummy – the band’s 18th studio album – Booth admitted he didn’t consider James a ’90s band’.
He told Metro: “We sell more tickets now than we’ve ever sold when we were so-called famous in the 90s.
“The only difference is that we’re older, and therefore we’re not in the media all the time. We don’t have that excitement of a young band.”
This summer, James is performing a string of UK shows , including a gig at Scarborough Open Air Theatre and a set at Gone Wild Festival in Norfolk.