When did JDB.....

[littlebabyeverything]

Originally Posted by Blank Page Refugee

And i actualy like Buzz baby go, but how did his singing improve so so much?

I think its fairly well documented that he took singing lessons at some point.

[mafiamonroe]

Originally Posted by sculptureofabloke

I might've dreamt it, but I'm sure James tore up a packet on stage at Newcastle 2002 saying he was quitting?

Really?! he did start again though as he was interviewed by Dermot O Leary on the radio in 2004 i think and he said that Christmas that year was his D Day for smoking. Obviously he didn't manage to give up then.

Originally Posted by littlebabyeverything

I think its fairly well documented that he took singing lessons at some point.

He did but the singing teacher said that she couldn't really teach him anything apart from a few breathing exercises. She also said he was a very normal meat and potatoes kind of man!

[Beat Poet]

Everyone seems to have forgotten his drinking, he's cut down now but I bet that's had an effect over the years - certainly on his weight!

[lovesean4ever]

aaah leave him be - he's gotta have guilty pleasures in life and it's ok to smoke AND drink.

[The Gutless Wonder]

The chap that I chat to on The Rush Forum was impressed with James' vocals from Newbury Comics, considering he had a cold as well. I think during gigs he will get a bit more natural breathlessness as he gets older as someone mentioned what with all that bouncing around all over the place and attempting the splits! It would be better if he quit obviously but that's up to him.

[Irradiata]

I cannot fathom why a singer would smoke (for that matter, I can't fathom why anyone would smoke as there are no benefits to smoking), because his livelihood is at risk, as well as his life.

Addiction's a bitch.

EDIT: Wow, I sound officious.

He's a grown man and he can do what he likes.

[Mr Richey]

Originally Posted by Mr Inconspicuous

Now that the subject has been brought up, I was wondering when Richey started on the ciggies, In his biography, Rob Jovanovic suggests it was only in 1993, which I was a bit surprised at. I had always assumed he had started as a teen, I suppose mainly because of the line in Spectators of Suicide and because he always seems to have been so physically slight...

Simon Price indicated in Everything that Richey started smoking when he was a patient at The Priory. This is supported by Nicky's comment that he came out of The Priory with a 60 a day habit.

[Bryter Layter]

Originally Posted by Richey83

Simon Price indicated in Everything that Richey started smoking when he was a patient at The Priory. This is supported by Nicky's comment that he came out of The Priory with a 60 a day habit.

I haven't read 'Everything' in ages so I can't speak to what Price mentions regarding the timeline of when Richey picked up that habit, however, if he does state that in the book, it's another factual error on his part. Richey in fact picked up the habit in late summer 1993. There's not only photographic evidence showing him smoking cigarettes during this time, there's also a Japanese interview with both he and Nicky in the fall of '93 where he's literally chain smoking throughout.
Best not to believe everything you read in Everything. Its the best bio on the band, but it's full of inaccuracies.

[Mr Inconspicuous]

Well regardless of the precise date does noone else think it a bit odd that Richey would have taken up smoking at such an advanced age, particularly when he had been around a rock n roll milieu, and JDB in particular, for a number of years before that. I'm guessing it was a conscious decision he took, feeling the need to walk it the way he talked it or something...

[kitz]

Originally Posted by lovesean4ever

who cares !

this.

[Mr.Selfdestruct]

Originally Posted by Richey83

Simon Price indicated in Everything that Richey started smoking when he was a patient at The Priory. This is supported by Nicky's comment that he came out of The Priory with a 60 a day habit.

As he eat less and less I guess he just smoked more. It's ten years since I read that book. I will have to buy it and read it again.

James is looking better these days. Although looking at the pics from America, he seems to have put on weight since the last time I saw him, in April. He still looks a lot better than he did in the late 90's/early naughties. And his voice is a lot better too. Did he used to drink a lot of spirits? If he can't stop smoking, he is better off sticking to the pints than the whiskey.

[The Gutless Wonder]

Yeah, think he's always been a bit of a whiskey man.

[mafiamonroe]

Originally Posted by Mr Inconspicuous

Well regardless of the precise date does noone else think it a bit odd that Richey would have taken up smoking at such an advanced age, particularly when he had been around a rock n roll milieu, and JDB in particular, for a number of years before that. I'm guessing it was a conscious decision he took, feeling the need to walk it the way he talked it or something...

My younger brother only started smoking around the age of 26 so it's no that unusual.

[The Gutless Wonder]

In one of the biogs (possibly the made-up one! ) don't they all try a packet of ciggies as a bunch of young teenagers?

[Bought In]

Originally Posted by TheGreatPretender

I haven't read 'Everything' in ages so I can't speak to what Price mentions regarding the timeline of when Richey picked up that habit, however, if he does state that in the book, it's another factual error on his part. Richey in fact picked up the habit in late summer 1993. There's not only photographic evidence showing him smoking cigarettes during this time, there's also a Japanese interview with both he and Nicky in the fall of '93 where he's literally chain smoking throughout.
Best not to believe everything you read in Everything. Its the best bio on the band, but it's full of inaccuracies.

you sure he wasn't just stubbing them out on his arm?