James Newman is an English singer-songwriter who began his music career in 2013.
As a singer her has collaborated with artists such as Diablo and Armin van Buuren and as a songwriter he has co-written songs for artists such as Rudimental, JLS and Little Mix. He also co-wrote the song "Dying to Try" by Brendan Murray, which represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev, failing to qualify for the final.
He was internally chosen to represent his home nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song "My Last Breath", where he would automatically qualify for the final due to being part of a "Big 5" nation. However, as the Contest was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, he did not perform.
It was later confirmed that he would return to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam with the song "Embers". However, it suffered the same fate as Jemini's "Cry Baby" when it failed to secure a single point from both the jury vote and televote, thus finishing in last place.
The following month, it was announced that he had collaborated on an English version of "Voy a quedarme" by Spanish representative Blas Cantó, retitled "I Will Stay".