James Lee Stanley
(born April 30, 1946) is an American folk singer-songwriter who has been recording and performing since the age of fourteen. He spent time in the Air Force during the late '60s and early '70s as a Chinese Linguist and studied music at Cal State-Northridge after his discharge. Upon graduation, Stanley began working as a songwriter for producer Bones Howe, a relationship which led Stanley to a recording contract with the Wooden Nickel division of RCA.
He has toured consistently since then and has performed up to three hundred dates a year, with such diverse acts as Steven Wright, Bonnie Raitt, Robin Williams, Nicolette Larson and even Bill Cosby.
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JAMES LEE STANLEY TICKETS
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Biography
Of Italian, German, Cherokee Indian, Scottish/Irish, and English Descent.
[1] Stanley stands 6'1 with hazel eyes and originally black hair now silver.
Early life
James said in a 2002 interview that as a child he was:
'Shy bright, blessed ... Strict father gentle mother ... Three beautiful sisters ... Parents still married, Dad came home every night and kissed mom full on the lips'
Pre-recording career
As a young boy his uncle taught James to play the
ukulele, thus beginning James' musical career.
Early Recording and Song Writing
When James got his first recording contract at the age of 14 he says,
"The Producer told me to write songs, so I did. They were terrible."
In the early sixties a pre-
Mamas and Papas Cass Elliot paid for James' first recordings. He remained close friends with Cass until her untimely death from a heart attack in her sleep in 1974.
Wooden Nickel to Beachwood Records
James first self titled album on
Wooden Nickel was released January 23 1973 and one month later he had his first booking as James Lee Stanley recording artist, opening for
Les Paul at
McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.
Though James had an impressive ten album deal, RCA's subsidiary
Wooden Nickel did little for his career commercially. The publicity for his albums was sorely lacking.
"Publicity campaign?", James says, "They made three t shirts, one for me, one for
the president of Wooden Nickel and one for his wife. And there was one group ad
with Tower Records L.A. in which my album was included. So far as I
know, that was it."
Critically, Stanley fared much better.
"I received nothing but brilliant reviews. I remember Billboard Magazine (then the biggest music/showbiz mag in the world) choosing only a few albums to spotlight the week I put out "Three's the Charm"[1974]: Queen's "Night at the Opera", Loggins and Messina's "Sittin In" /
Ten Years After with Alvin Lee / and Three's the Charm."
After the very positive critical reception of "Three's the Charm" and yet still no push from
Wooden Nickel James asked to be released from his contract which still had seven albums to go
Wooden Nickel somewhat begrudgingly released James from his contract. After a six year recording hiatus James recorded "Midnight Radio" [1980] for
Regency Records. A compilation album of James' earlier recordings titled "Eclipse"[1982] was released by
Jollye Roger.
James then recorded "Racing the Moon"[1984] for
Takoma. James then made the decision to start his own label
Beachwood Records. James says,
"I wanted to make a recording of music and comedy and all the labels said: 'Choose one or the other.' So I chose to start my own label and do just what I do."
Beginning with James Lee Stanley / "Live" [1985] to the present, all of James' work has been with
Beachwood.
Current era
A tireless live performer, James is constantly touring giving concerts.
James is currently working on a long and eagerly awaited musical, a project James has been working on since 1990. Titled
Straight From The Heart, it is the story of two women, their relationship and one finding a husband.
In recent years James, who as a solo performer is a great "one man band", has collaborated on what he calls "two man band" projects with Peter Tork, Micheal Smith, and the great acoustic treatment of Rolling Stones songs with John Batdorf, "All Wood and Stones".
Always working on his craft with seemingly tireless enthusiasm, James is always writing and recording new songs. I'm sure if asked right now he'd say, "yea, i think it's the best I've ever done.
Datamusicata.com
One of James' best known works has been the creation of a blog entitled Datamusicata, a mixture of lessons on the music business, wild comedic stories from his own personal and professional history, and a large quantity of what has worked for him professionally...his own mistakes and triumphs...
James' updates his blog on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays...for each of his entries there is room for readers to comment ask questions etc...James' quite often replies back
Datamusicata has reached 500,000 hits...
Discography
Vinyl 7" Single Releases
I Knead You (1973)
This Could Be Goodbye (1973)
Plenty of Reason (For Going) / Windmill (1974)
Midnight Radio (1980)
Same Olde Samba / The Dancer (1989)
Vinyl 12" Releases
"James Lee Stanley" (1973)
"James Lee Stanley,Too" (1973)
"Three’s The Charm" (1974)
"Midnight Radio" (1980)
"Eclipse" (1982)
"Racing the Moon" (1984)
"James Lee Stanley/Live" (1985) rereleased on Beachwood with national distribution by Capitol Records in 1998
Vinyl 12" / CD Releases
"Simpatico" (1989)
CD Releases
"Ripe Four Distraction" (1991)
"The Envoy" (1993)
"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" (1993)
"Two Man Band" w/Peter Tork (1996)
"Domino Harvest" (1997)
"Freelance Human Being" (1998), One of the Top 200 CD's of All Time - FI Magazine, (March 1999)
"Once Again" w/Peter Tork (2001)
"Beachwood Christmas CD - 2001" (2001)
"Two Man Band Two" w/Michael Smith (2002)
"Beachwood Christmas CD - 2002" (2002)
"Traces Of The Old Road" (2003)
"A Beachwood Christmas - 2003" (2003)
"All Wood And Stones" w/ John Batdorf (2005)
"Live / Backstage @ The Coffee Gallery – Peter Tork & James Lee Stanley" (2006)
"Eternal Contradiction" (2007)
"New Traces of the Old Road" (2008)
References
- Quote from 2002 interview with Bobby Brogan for an Academic paper