James Blake

James Blake Litherland, better known by his stage name James Blake, was born in the London suburb of Entfield on September 26, 1988. In 2010, he surprised UK radio programmers and DJs with his tracks "CMYK" and "Limit to Your Love" (composed by Feist and Chilly Gonzales). Ranked as one of the BBC's hottest artists, he released a dubstep-influenced debut album at No. 9 in 2011. His musical style, at the crossroads of electronica, soul and pop, has led him to collaborate with artists as diverse as Bon Iver, Kanye West, Joni Mitchell and Björk. In 2013, his second album Overgrown, charted at No. 8, featured a guest appearance by rapper RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) and earned the young artist the Mercury Prize that had eluded him the previous time around, while the track "Retrograde " grabbed an Ivor Novello Award. His warm or melancholy voice, combined with intimate sounds, aroused critical acclaim for his third album The Colour in Anything, released by surprise in May 2016, charted at No. 13 and featuring contributions from Frank Ocean and Bon Iver. Further associations follow, with Travis Scott, Vince Staples, Mount Kimbie, Kendrick Lamar and Oneohtrix Point Never, as well as a credit on the Black Panther movie soundtrack for "King's Dead" (featuring Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Future) and "Bloody Waters". In 2019, the album Assume Form (No. 6) features Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, André 3000, Moses Sumney and Rosalía, among others. Two EPs, including a covers EP, Covers (2020), precede her fifth album, Friends That Break Your Heart (2021), which debuted at No. 4. After the ambient Wind Down (2022), created with the help of an artificial intelligence application, James Blake added new sounds to his futuristic successor Playing Robots Into Heaven (2023), featuring the singles "Big Hammer", "Loading" and "Tell Me". He then collaborated with Lil Yachty on the album Bad Cameo (2024), before returning to solo work with Trying Times (2026), which reached No. 3 in the UK.