Transcript: Nate James

Content warning: personal experiences of racism

 

00:00

Hey, this is Nate James. I am a UK soul singer. I live up in Scotland for my peace. Um, and I am the son of a USAF airman, James Spees, who was stationed at Lakenheath base where I was born. And I grew up in Newmarket. So my dad was stationed over here in the UK at RAF Lakenheath near Newmarket, um, in the mid 70s, this is when he met my mother. It was a very Top Gun- esque moment, err, met her in a bar, disappeared off to Italy, I think, for three months, came back and she was in the same bar with her friend. And there's a bit of sort of kind of cat and mouse going on for a while. And then he left back to the USA, I think, to Louisiana for a couple of years, and he came back, and in ‘79 and that's when I was born, um, all seven pounds, three ounces of me.

 

00:54

Um, and, [laughs] yeah, I was basically raised, um well, I mean, in a beautiful, you know, mixed, mixed household of mixed, of everything, culture, food, music, love, just, just um a very wonderful place to be for the first five years of my life I grew up, yeah, I think it was called persimmon walk, and it's a little estate in Newmarket where a lot of the Air Force families lived, and err we just had a great time together. 

 

01:24

So my dad, um, I remember this, I was just turned five, and err, he had the call. I mean, I think, to be honest, my parents were kind of like we really enjoyed Newmarket, and there was, you know, we left some dear friends behind there when we, when we had to move. But my parents were very much like my brother was, I think, two and a half at the time, and I was five, and my parents were very much like they didn't want us to be, um I say, a normal military family where the child's upbringing and education was very disjointed and very stop start through travelling around. They wanted to kind of keep us um and give us that stability and that constancy as best they could. So he was stationed to RAF Bentwaters um near Woodbridge, and then we, yeah, we moved to Woodbridge when I was five. And er, I mean, it wasn't, I wouldn't say it was much different to Newmarket, like, you know, as a small town, um you know, aside from the race courses, obviously, that was probably the main difference. But, you know, small riverside town in the East of England, um we were probably one of maybe five or six families on our estate, um, that were not white, you know, that were mixed, be it Indian, be it Chinese, be it American. Um, so yeah, it was, we were a small minority, but we made the most noise, and we had the best barbecues, and we had just, just made friends with, you know, everyone, pretty much on the estate, you know. I'll never forget growing up, and sort of, my dad and mum would sit outside the front of the house, and Dad would be playing some Kelly G or some Blackstreet, or some Marvin Gaye or whatever. And you know, the neighbours would just come over and just crack a beer, and we'd sit there and just chat and sing, and us kids would be playing in the street, as you would do. And then, you know, when it got dark, we went inside and went about our business. But it's very, Woodbridge, was very much um, the community - we had a community in New Market where, like I said, where we originally lived. But I think for me, obviously, as I got older and I became, kind of made new friends, and they were friends, still friends to this day. You know that I grew up opposite and lived on the same estate as, it was a sense of community I think we'd been missing for a little while, and that stability that we, that we needed. 

 

3.43

I mean, I love my food to this day, and when my dad said we're going to so and so's for a barbecue, I lost my entire shit. Like, I'm like, we're talking the ribs that are marinated in the beer and then the the greens and the ham hocks and the mac and cheese and the proper like, grandma's fried chicken, like, I would lose my entire mind, because I'm like, and you know the music's gonna be banging, the soundtrack is gonna be on point. Like, you're going to a cookout, you're going to someone's backyard that you can smell the food from down the way, you know what you're going to be getting yourself into. Like, I'm getting excited about, I'm salivating about it now. Um so I think for me, and also I think that, me and my mum were talking about this the other day, like, about generational education and how, obviously, we learn a lot from our parents and our grandparents and so on, but we also teach a lot. And I think that for us, and you know, the the, the African American community in East Anglia, we taught a lot of folk a lot of things about seasonings, about food, about music, about culture, about love, about, you know, so many things. So I think, like from, I know that when we eventually left Woodbridge, and my parents now live in Florida, and my brothers in Amsterdam and I'm in Scotland, but I think we left a really nice mark on people's hearts and their, and their stomachs and their minds, um, in during our tenure, if during our time. I guess, you know, in Woodbridge, especially.

 

5:16

When I got my ID card to go on the bases I was game over. Like, knowing that I could go into the BX and I could get the new Drew Hill album, the new Usher album before it was even in our price, or Woolworths or HMV or Andy's records, like, and then there's the trainers and the starter, the caps, the jacket, like, I, I, I remember, like, non school uniform day, I would go in pimped, like, literally to the max. I have my, I have my Reebok pumps, pumped up, I have my, my starter, like LA Raiders, like two piece black, grey and white - now you can see it now, right? My little afro, my little picky afro - I got goosebumps talking about it, and I'd have my my little, my little Walkman in, or my DiscMan at the time, and I'd be listening to the new SWV album, like that, the true tell that I was an American son, or a son of an American, and a black American at that was what I wore and what I listened to, and what I ate. Like I, you know, we mum would do like a roast pork on a on a Sunday, for example, I'd go into school the next day with, like, not even a slip, like, a slab of pork between two, between two buns slathered with mayonnaise and lettuce, and I would sit there, and this thing was the size of a plate, and I would demolish it in my lunch hour. And everyone's like, like, they would be like, Nathaniel, can we, can we buy your lunch off you? I'm like, you're not having this, hell no, you know. So I think for me, like, I say the perks, but like me and my brother as well, like he was obsessed with basketball, so he'd have his Air Jordans, I'd have my BK Knights, or my FILAs or whatever. And, you know, we had a trainer collection, because obviously, on the base it was, it was dollar to pound. So it was like two, pretty much two for one at the time, you know. So you, you get $100 pair of trainers, it's 50 quid. So that's what, you know, a couple months, a few months pocket money or paper round money, and I'd be pimped! I loved it. It was great, you know. So, I think for me, as much as my, you know, my parents and our family. You know, when we I mean trick or treating, obviously, on the base and Halloween, we come back with, like, three bags of sweets, everything from the Milk Duds to the Tootsie Rolls to the, the Bubblicious. I mean, we had literally three months supply of sugar in our house. And of course, our friends would come around and we share it because we couldn't, we couldn't eat it all ourselves, well we probably could, but we didn't [laughs] because we were rationed, you know, so just stuff like that. I think that it's almost like that kind of indirect influence of goodness and all the good parts of what it was to be Black American living in the East of England at that time. 

 

8:01 

Don't get me wrong, like it was, it was, it was a lot of fun. Race, racism was still very much a thing. The N word was used at school in my direction a good few times. You know, it wasn't all, err,  peaches and ice cream. You know, it wasn't, it wasn’t, it wasn't that. Um I mean, I think in our little bubble on our estate, it was, it was beautiful, it was great. I don't recall, you know, every neighbour that we had, because we lived in Oxford drive. We lived at that house for, hmm,  probably 18, maybe 20 years, maybe longer. And, you know, neighbours would come in, and new people would move in, and there was one guy on one side, we never spoke to he didn't, I don't know why he didn't like us. He just didn't say anything for, like, I'm like, just say good morning, I mean you literally, I can see you over the fence. And I always waved to him. Just looked at me like, just grumpy old man. Anyway, the other side, they were lovely, an older couple, I think, Ann and Reg, and then a family, a couple of families moved in there. And then, you know, it was always, you know, I’d like be sat in my bedroom. My bedroom faced outside the back the back garden, and I hear my dad popping a beer and having a beer over the fence with the neighbours, just chatting about the grass or the weather or how their day was. And very American, very Black American um love languages, you know, very like having, having a having a cold beer on the lawn together, you know, hey, we're doing a barbecue room, you want to hop over the fence? Yeah, come on over. Like, just very open, very warm, very welcoming. 

 

09:29

But yeah, there was, there was the crappy side too, you know. And I, I was bullied at school, um I think more so for my creativity and, you know, dance, drama, art, music, singing, all that stuff. Not to say there was a problem there big but I mean, also, to be fair, I mean, there was, again, there was probably 10/12, children of colour in a 1200/1500 pupil school. So, you know, obviously, very, err, I'd say, a very normal ratio for that time, to be honest. Um, it was almost the sort of, you know, the token, oh, we've ticked a box, we have, we have people of colour in this school, you know, it's just like, it was, like a novelty. No but it was, it was a novelty thing, you know. I mean, how dare those people of colour do well, how dare those people of colour be smart and clever and creative, like it was that kind of mentality. And, you know, it kind of reminds me, I mean, I don't want to sort of drag all this, this Brexit and this reform stuff up now, but it kind of reminds me of like now, like the reason X, Y and Z has this job is because they have trained, they are specialist doctor, nurse, surgeon, and so on and so forth. They have not taken that job from you. You haven't got the education to be able to apply for that job, you know. So it just kind of, it's like it's ringing bells, full circle moment for me, a little bit with the way that schools were. I mean, I had, I had commendations, we had commendations back then, coming out of my arse, like, I excelled at school. I was a very bright kid, very creative, and I was bullied because of it. So I actually dumbed myself down in my mock GCSEs I've got E's, F's, U's, I'm great. I dumbed myself down for a peaceful life, that's how bad it got. You know, um not proud of the fact, and obviously, when my actual exams came around, I was like, came around, I was like, I'll know. I'm going to do what I spoke, what I came to do, you know, but for a year I actually dumbed myself down to avoid the bullying and the backlash of being clever. That's how, that's, that sounds, it sounds so ludicrous now to kind of go back and think that and say that out loud, but that's what I did, because it was a more peaceful life. I you know, I would pretend to be sick so I didn't have to go into school and deal with certain people. 

 

11:50 I think I learned later in life how to kind of deal with my emotions and talk more, you know, because I can go very quiet. I think, you know, my dad was, well, it was a, you know, one of ten children. So for him, you know, coming from a big family, um and also bear in mind, raising two children in another country, away from that support system, away from his family, um you know, it was, I want to say it wasn't like a militant upbringing, but there was definitely elements of that discipline within in the household, you know, we would never be in, but the slipper and the belt were threatened, but never used. We'll put it that way, right? Um, you know, but it kept us, me and my brother, both in line, and we had a, we had a wonderful household. I mean, we, you know, we were raised to look after ourselves, to fend for ourselves, to, you know, be able to cook clean and, you know, all those things between mum and dad. Um but also they were very much for me, especially very supportive of my creative endeavours and my arts and my dance and my music and singing and all these things that obviously I now do. So I was grateful, you know, there was no kind of they knew I had a dream to chase, but they were like, get your education, get your A levels, get your GCSEs and so on, before you do this record deal that you're chasing and you're dreaming of. And lo and behold, I did the record deal. And they were there at the signing party. And you know, it was, it was a very proud moment for all of us that I had the plan B, in case it went wrong, but I had the plan A that went according to plan.

 

13:25 

Err, what was it like growing up with a with a military father? I mean, I um, I learned a lot from my dad um and my mum, of course, but I think I have a love for early mornings, because we obviously we'd be up before he went to work, and he had to be at work at five, so we were up at four some mornings, and we'd get taken around to the child minder who lived around the corner from our house, Eileen, lovely, lovely lady. Um and, you know, I remember sort of like, you know, the sort of just the kitchen light and the sort of cosy, low, soft lighting in the kitchen. And we'd be there with our like, warm, hot milk, corn flakes with hot milk and all that sort of stuff, or Ready Brek or whatever, I think it was. It was just a very warm, warm household having two parents there because, you know, quite a few my friends, their parents had separated for whatever reason, be it work and the Air Force and did the division that kind of developed. Um and I think, you know we, we were very blessed and very lucky, um my parents are still together this day, 47 years later. Um but you know, they very much um raised us in the best way they knew how. They were learning - I remember my mom said to me, like, you're a parent for the first time every day, there's no manual, there's no handbook out there. And especially, like I said, with, you know, my dad's family, being in North Carolina, um mum and dad had to make it work themselves, by themselves, and make sure that we were, you know, fed, watered, roof over our heads, loved, supported, all those, all those words that we use. Um and of course, you know, my dad and his I mean, I can see it now - he had the CD tower, and he had three cupboards full of vinyl, which I said to him when he goes, I'm taking all of it [laughs], even if I haven't got a vinyl player, I'm going to keep that here in Scotland with me. Um and you know, he, my dad, taught me about music, he taught me about jazz and soul and funk, and, you know, all these incredible artist that I now know and love was, was mainly down to my dad and and that, that that Motown, that soul, that jazz that he grew up on, he kind of just gave it to me as my superpower as well, I guess. 

 

15:36

So, I mean, my dad bought me my first boombox, you know, back up like my CD, my little CD, top deck loading cassette deck radio system when I was, what, probably probably six. I remember I had a little, tiny, little red cassette player, and I used to record the chart show, you know how you managed to do that like and wind the tape forward and backwards so you missed the breaks and all that stuff [laughs] or pause it on a crap song.

 

16:04

So I, yeah, I mean, my dad gave me the ability to create my own playlists, I guess, for want of a better phrase with mixed tapes. And I would, you know, I would borrow his CDs and I record my favourite songs off them, and then I listened to my Walkman, and I was sing. You know, I learned to sing in my bedroom from probably the age of six, seven, sometimes with a hairbrush, not gonna lie, just for a microphone. But um yeah, I, I learned about music, firstly through listening, and then through, you know, I was like, well, how do they hit that note? How do they sing that like that? How do they, you know, control their breath, and I just basically, it was the homework that was never given by a teacher. It was my own little passion project to learn these tricks and skills. Um and then I got signed. Well, I, I was with a model agency when I was about hmm 12/13, I did some catalogy bits and bobs here and there, and a bit of TV extra work on EastEnders and so on. And then I told my agent I wanted to get into music, and I wanted to sing, and my agent had offices in London, so, long story short, I got a call from my agent saying, there’s a producer, wants to work with you in London. And I was like, Well, why has he come to you in Norwich when they're in London surrounded by 1000s of singers? Obviously. I mean, call it the universe, call it God, call it fate, whatever you want to call it anyway, I was meant to get that call. Went to London, auditioned, um I got into a group, an R&B group, er five guys, five of us, was signed to Warner Brothers, um and then the label kind of fell apart. It was, it was a major label, Warner Brothers, like I said, but the there was big shifts in the staffing and the CEO, and we basically were on a label when no one knew who we were. And it was a very sad, I mean, I've only just recently dealt with the trauma from that. It was an amazing time, I learnt, you know, all about my voice, and I learnt about how to work in a unit, um and how to produce vocals, and all these skills I now use, but it was tough, um and we got dropped, and then I just kind of stayed away from music for a couple of years, worked at a hotel, and then I got a call from a manager saying that he wanted to work with me as a writer, and he wanted me to come to London and do some sessions and write some songs. And I was like, alright, cool - there was no pressure of being an artist, it was just writing, which I love. I just literally had a weekend of writing yesterday. 

 

18:25 Um, so yeah. And then, long story short, I ended up writing the songs that became my first album, set the tone, which we released independently in 2005 and then, second album came, a covers album came, touring all over the world - I literally did that with suitcase for about five years on and off, um which I'm so grateful for, isn't I mean, I saw the four corners of the world, it was incredible. And then The Voice came knocking on my door season one, and I said no, because I was like, hmm I didn't really, I didn't really believe in it. I wasn't I was like, let me see how it goes season one, and if they come back season two, then we'll see what happens. And so they did. And as you all know, obviously, I was on team Jessie. There was a big media thing about, you know, oh Jessie knew it was Nate James, like, she couldn't know it was me. She was turned around, facing the other way, so she doesn't, do know I mean, like I feel I've got a distinctive voice, but not to that level that someone's like, Oh, hey, mate. So anyway, I mean, I was on there because I had a profile, and they wanted some names on the show. There was no guarantee I would go through. But, you know, my parents came over for the audition and stuff, and they were flown over from Florida, and, yeah, it was, it was great, it was great. It was part of my journey. You know, I can't, can't say much more than that, really. It's all a learning curve. It's all about, you know, knowledge and working on your craft. And that was just one part of a 20 year journey that I've had. 

 

19:54 I think that, in general, the public society, kind of views um, Air Force families, for want of a better phrase, um as you know, maybe a bit disjointed, um not as stable as in, geographically, as I said, like you know, a lot of friends of mine whose parents were also in the Air Force, which you know would be we spend, you know, a couple of terms at school together, and next thing, so and so has gone off to Texas with their mum and dad, because Dad's got stationed over there. So I think that, from, from my story anyway, at least, is just to kind of show that, you know, growing up in a, in a family with a military man and that kind of, like, the pros by far outweighed the cons. Do you know what I mean, and my, me and my brother were very lucky, we, like I say, we stayed put and went to Kyson primary school, Farlingay high school, Suffolk College later, for a later education, my brother went to Brighton University. Um but I do feel like that sort of, the discipline and that kind of um structure of being, you know, having a father in the military, a mother who was a very successful Sister in Ipswich at Heathrow, Heathrow hospital, you know, set us up for, set us up for a very, very good hold on life and just kind of, you know, career choices and um being motivated and driven. And you know, the people that my brother works at Google, and I'm, you know, a successful musician, singer songwriter, DJ, you know, we both have excelled in our respective areas, and I think that the upbringing that we had and the influence of American culture and the American the American Air Force on us, that influence within us has definitely, you know, carried us through life in great ways. 

 

21:36 I've always remained in my own lane. I built a road for myself, you know, as a person, as a um human um because I didn't feel particularly embraced, not my not not my family, not my parents at all. I've never felt particularly embraced by either side of my culture. I've been welcomed in with open arms, but there's been no big hug from either side, and not that I was looking for that, but I really have feel, I felt like, as a you know person who's mixed race, I have very much been on my own road, me and my brother, obviously, and it's interesting. I've got a podcast coming out this, this, this year as well, which talks about this and shared experiences of people who are of mixed heritage, not just, not just black and white mix. It could be Polish and Chinese. It could, you know, anything that is um ‘other’, for want of a better phrase, we tick the ‘other’ box, that's what it's called. That's my podcast coming out this year, and I've been working so hard on it, and it's just so interesting, because this conversation right now is, is such a common place. There's so many of us who have had these similar experiences of being of two or more heritages and backgrounds and cultures and feeling, even though we have all this wonderful mix inside of us, we feel lost because we could we don't know who to identify with or where to, you know what I mean? So it's yeah, another, another conversation, for another day. 

 

23:02

I did my master's degree in Music Business three years ago at Westminster, and during that time, I, A) realised I was quite smart [laughs], not just, not just here to write songs and sing songs in DJ. I actually have a pretty decent brain in my head. Um and I wrote my thesis about what it is to be, well, gay or queer in the music industry as a, as a male singer, and the kind of trials and tribulations. I wanted to talk about the racism side as well as the homophobia side, but it was too big a subject to talk about in 15,000 words. So, I focused it in and kind of honed it down to, you know, how society and mass media affect the existence of the queer or gay male pop star. I got a first for my dissertation, so I'm very, very happy about that. And off the back of that, I met an agent, a literary agent, who said to me one day we had a meeting at a members club in London, and she was like, I think your story is fascinating, and the fact that you feel so, so empowered now to speak about it and speak about your experiences in the industry and um life in general. So I wrote the book that was finished, err when did I finish that? Maybe three or four months ago. And then also on my on the Masters, on the course, I kind of realised that, you know, we are in a very content led world these days, and people just want to know what you have for breakfast, what your dog's name is, you know, all these little things that I guess aren't important pieces of information, but people do enjoy the kind of knowing the or understanding you more and feeling more connected to you through the things that you post. 

 

So I said to a friend of mine, I really want to make a documentary about, initially, it was going to be about kind of my comeback, as it were, and about what it's like, you know, compared to 20 years ago, to be an artist in the music industry, and then we kind of broadened it to, like, what is music these days? How do we consume music? How do artists make, make money from music? You know? I mean streaming, we know, doesn't pay anything, so it's live shows, but if you haven't got an agent, and you can't get a live show. And the pay is really not that great. And you know, so we basically have kind of broadened it, we've had some amazing people on to be interviewed, Boy George, we've spoken to Kelly Laroque, Terry Walker, Omar, like some mean, basically, my my crew, my my gang that I've come up with in music. And then the album is called ‘The Man I am’, it's my first openly gay album, um you know, I'm not forcing any agenda with this album, just being honest and writing songs from the heart that I've truly, I truly feel, and have, you know, experienced these wonderful, wonderful things in my life that had males talk about until now. And I'm just like, you know, I'm 46 and I've got a voice, and I've got a good head on my shoulders, and I feel, you know, strong enough in myself to talk about these experiences and how life has treated me in general, and I'm really, really proud of it. Um and then there's the podcast, which is called ‘The Other Box’ that's coming out, I think, in spring this year [2026], which kind of looks at people of mixed heritage and how they see themselves, but also how the outside world sees them. And, you know, we talked about it earlier, about being in our own lane and not necessarily feeling understood by either side of our heritage, our culture. How do we, how do we, how do we live? How do we conduct ourselves? What, what spaces do we exist in? Where do we feel comfortable? All those kinds of things. 

 

So basically, long story short, there's a lot of stuff going on. Um I've been working probably for three years now on all these projects to have them ready for this year, so you'll be seeing a lot of me this year, and then also my headline show at the Summer Soul Festival in Ipswich on July the 11th this year. Can't wait. 

 

26:36 

So basically, my dad, you know, had a bunch of friends from the Air Force, and kind of that orbited the Air Force, as it were, like people who were business colleagues, you know, work friends, golf buddies, drinking buddies, whatever it might be. Um and yeah, this character called JJ would come around to our house, JJ Johnson, I think his name was, um my mum, became really good friends with his wife as well. And they would come over, you know, for dinners and barbecues and just hang out. And I think JJ was my dad's, I want to say, like he was dad's accountant, or, like, helped him with some investment things, and, you know, sort of financial advisor, I think was his role. Then it kind of transpired that he also, you know, coached American football, or, you know, sports teams and stuff locally in, near me, in Ipswich. And there was, obviously, yeah, the, I think they trained at Northgate, and then this sort of tie in was, I mean, I met Dermot O'Leary a couple of times over the years, through, obviously, being in music and being entertainment and, yeah, so, like, common, like, name that kept coming up was JJ and I'm like, oh, so yeah, basically, JJ trained Dermot and was a friend of my dad's. And that's, that's the tie in, right there with Mr. JJ Johnson. Bless him. Lovely guy.