Jamie Cullum's debt to Michael Parkinson

Nov 19 2009 By Polly Weeks

Jamie Cullum reveals to Polly Weeks that it was an appearance on the chat show that launched his career.

He’s the UK’s biggest jazz artist and he’s just released his fifth album, The Pursuit. But if it wasn’t for an appearance on Parkinson, life could be very different for Jamie Cullum.

When people talk about a life changing moment, rarely will it have come on a TV show.

For 30-year-old Cullum, though, his appearance on Michael Parkinson’s chat show in 2003 changed his career.

Cullum may be a worldwide name now, but back in 2003, having already released two albums, he was struggling to receive mainstream recognition.

Parkinson, who was impressed by the pint-sized singer-pianist, took a chance and invited the Wiltshireman onto his TV show. With Cullum’s jazz-pop style, he quickly wooed the audience – and the industry bosses.

His performance sparked a bidding war to sign the musician, with Cullum eventually plumping for Universal records.

The whirlwind period was the culmination of years of hard work.

Cullum’s passion for music started in childhood when he looked up to his big brother Ben: “My brother was a musician and I guess I just copied him. I thought he looked cool when he’d play Eddie Van Halen guitar solos in his bedroom. I thought ‘I’ll have a go at that’.”

It wasn’t long before music had consumed the schoolboy: “Music was what I grabbed onto as a teenager. At school some were the football kids, some the school swots, I guess I was the music guy. I was always listening to music or talking about music.”

While he kept up with his favourite hobby throughout his teens, when he attended university his educational path shifted as he took a degree in English and film studies.

“To do a music degree, you have to be able to read music and have a grasp of music theory. I didn’t have any of that at all,” Cullum explains.

Despite being focused on his studies, he couldn’t let go of his musical passion and he continued to play jazz in his spare time, releasing his first album in 1999. The LP, Heard it All Before, quickly sold out, although Cullum does admit: “There were only 500 and by ‘album release’, what I really mean is I was selling them out of the back of my car.”

His second album, Pointless Nostalgic, was picked up by an independent label and led to that famous TV appearance.

Now, instead of trying to sell his albums from his car, his life is filled with world tours playing to thousands of people and occasionally checking the charts to see how his singles and albums are doing.