James Hunter

Born in 1962 in Colchester, Essex, James Hunter first came to prominence in the United Kingdom under the name Howlin’ Wilf, within a circuit of London pubs and clubs where he refined a blend of rhythm and blues, soul and blues marked by the American sounds of the 1950s and 1960s. A singer, guitarist and songwriter, James Hunter develops a direct writing style and a tight performance, powered by restrained arrangements, precise brass and a flexible rhythm section. After the recordings released with Howlin’ Wilf & The Vee-Jays in the late 1980s, James Hunter continued under his own name with Believe What I Say (1996) and then Kick It Around (1999). His career then intersected with Van Morrison, with whom he toured in the early 1990s and to whom he contributed backing vocals on A Night in San Francisco (1994) and Days Like This (1995). A new stage opened with People Gonna Talk (2006), followed by The Hard Way (2008), where James Hunter more widely established this style—at once energetic and elegant, rooted in classic R&B without pastiche. From 2012, he renamed his group The James Hunter Six, a compact-sounding collective formation with which he released Minute by Minute (2013), Hold On! (2016), Whatever It Takes (2018), Nick of Time (2020) and With Love (2022), staying faithful to a soul-blues approach centered on song, groove and collective efficiency.