Singer Bows Out Amicably
Tim Booth has announced his decision to leave James. The singer, who presented Brian Eno with the Merit Award at this year’s Q Awards, has said that the band’s forthcoming European tour will be his last as a member of the group. In a statement, Booth said: “After much deliberation I have decided it’s time for me to leave James. When we started the band we always said we’d give it a year and see how it went. If you had told me we’d last nearly 20 years I’d have asked you what drugs you were on. I am leaving on a high. The tour will be a great farewell party. For the last two years we have been getting on better with each other than ever before.
“So why am I leaving? Well because I want to stop while we are on top. To leave great memories knowing that I feel proud of just about everything we have done. And I am leaving because it feels like the right time. This is an intuitive decision enabling me to let go of a huge commitment and make space for something new to come in. I am sure the press will try and find all kinds of smaller reasons and many of them may be factually true. But this is the greater truth. I don’t know what the rest of the guys are going to do but I want to thank them for an amazing ride and for taking my departure so well.”
Booth revealed that he is mid-way through a screenplay and hinted that he would be pursuing musical projects of his own. He also thanked the band’s fans for “Your faith in us [which] has lifted us to higher levels. It seems like you have managed to always see us through the smokescreen of hipness and cool that the music industry is drowning in.”
James’s final tour with Booth takes in the Brighton Centre (2 December), Leeds University (3 December), Newcastle Arena (4 December), Birmingham NEC (6 December); Manchester Arena (7 December), Glasgow SECC (9 December) and London’s Wembley Arena (10 December).
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