Though he is a primarily a vocalist, he also accompanies himself on instruments including piano, guitar and drums. Cullum was born in Romford, East London. He was brought up in Hullavington, Wiltshire, and educated at the independent fee-paying Grittleton House School and the sixth form at Sheldon School. His mother, Yvonne, is a secretary of Anglo-Burmese origin, whose family settled in Wales after Burma's independence; his father, John Cullum, worked in finance.
His paternal grandfather was a British Army officer, while his paternal grandmother was a Jewish refugee from Prussia who sang in Berlin nightclubs. Cullum released his first album, Jamie Cullum Trio—Heard it All, in , of which copies were made. Cullum's third album, Twentysomething, released in October , went platinum and became the 1 selling studio album by a jazz artist in the United Kingdom.
Cullum ended as the UK's biggest selling jazz artist of all time. Although primarily a jazz musician, he performs in a wide range of styles and is generally regarded as a "crossover" artist with his musical roots firmly based in jazz.
Cullum draws his inspiration from many different musicians and listens to an eclectic mix of music from Miles Davis to Tom Waits and many more. Cullum has belonged to several bands, ranging from banging drums in a hip hop group to playing guitar in rock bands such as Raw Sausage and The Mystery Machine, in his teenage youth. Cullum names his elder brother, Ben Cullum, as his biggest musical influence, and the two continue to collaborate extensively.
The albums reflect Cullum's versatile taste in music, as well as his affection for rock, pop, hip hop, dance music, drums 'n' bass, classic jazz, and Broadway and movie scores. As a vocalist, Cullum sings in a midrange tenor with a sandpapery edge. He usually plays the piano in a light, rhythmic style. However, in performance Cullum treats his piano like a percussion instrument.
He pummels it, taps out beats on the wood, plucks the strings, and turns over the bench. His live act mirrors the eclecticism of his albums while adding bits of showmanship: Cullum scats, sings a cappella, leads sing-a-longs, and sniffs after the line "I get no kick from cocaine" during Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick Out of You. In addition, they have commented on the musical treatment that he gives to his cover tunes. Born in Wiltshire, England, Cullum grew up in the rural village of Hullavington, near the town of Malmesbury.
His father, John, the son of Jewish refugees who came to England from Germany, and his mother, Yvonne, who is second-generation Burmese, performed together in a rock cover band. They also had an extensive record collection, to which they introduced their two sons. At the age of eight Jamie began taking piano lessons. He quit at eleven, after failing an exam, and began to explore other art forms.
However, two events at the age of 13 helped shape Cullum as a musician: he received an electric guitar for his birthday, and he saw the American jazz singer Harry Connick Jr. At around this time, Ben Cullum began to take charge of his brother's musical tastes, bringing him albums by dynamic rockers the Who whose "My Generation" he later would cover in live performance , heavy-metal act Iron Maiden, and rap pioneers Public Enemy.
At 16, Jamie began to jam with Ben now a recording artist, producer, and session musician on their guitars, a period that Cullum claims made him take music seriously for the first time.
Cullum became especially interested in American grunge bands such as Nirvana and Soundgarden; at the same time, as he told an interviewer in Now! In Cullum attended the Glastonbury Festival, an outdoor rock show in England. Here, he was thrilled by the music of Radiohead, an English progressive-rock band that he now considers his favorite group of all time.
After that experience, Cullum decided to take a year off from school to concentrate exclusively on music. At 18, Cullum went to Paris. He spent a year playing in bars and clubs there and throughout the Continent. After returning to England, Cullum entered the University of Reading, where he majored in English literature, film, and drama, while continuing to play music on the Wiltshire jazz circuit. While at school, he began composing and performing music for plays and films, and also did some acting and producing.
In addition, he played in rock, hip hop, and techno bands and performed at weddings, funerals, and bar mitzvahs, as well as in strip clubs and on cruise ships. This album, which was released independently in , was acquired by English jazz singer Claire Teal and brought to the attention of Alan Bates, the head of Candid Records, a UK jazz label. Bates signed Cullum, who moved to London after graduating from the University of Reading in The Cullum-Dahl family have plenty of Christmas traditions.
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