Indie folk-rocker Gavin James' ascent to singer-songwriter stardom has been both refreshingly old-school and something of a whirlwind. The red-headed Dubliner honed his craft in the pubs of his hometown's Temple Bar neighborhood, where he would play for several hours a night, often seven days a week. This gave him the confidence and know-how to ramp up his soulful love songs to arena-rock scale while preserving his naturally warm and earnest style.

Born Gavin Wigglesworth in 1991, James began writing songs and rocking out at age 8. He released his first single, "Say Hello," in 2013, which earned him awards and record deals in Europe and the U.S. He appeared on Shark Tank in 2015, released the EP For You, toured with both Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith, and, later that same exhausting year, released his debut album, Bitter Pill. It consisted of studio versions of songs heard on his 2015 release Live at Whelans, recorded in a renowned Dublin pub.

James became an unlikely dance-floor favorite thanks to DJ Danny Avila's remix of "I Don't Know Why." EDM artist Alan Walker's "Tired," which features James' vocal, also charted in several countries.

While Bitter Pill proved him expert at intimate romantic balladry, James' livelier sophomore album Only Ticket Home (2018) demonstrates his gift for writing stirring melodies and then elevating them to epic heights with driving beats and dramatic peaks. The record's theme may have been loss and loneliness, but a broken heart has rarely sounded so grand, beginning with the anthemic thump of "Start Again." In Ireland, the album debuted at No. 2.

In conjunction with the release of Only Ticket Home,' James became a frequent TV presence. His sad song "22" was heard on Grey's Anatomy, and he became the first live performer ever on Dancing With the Stars, where he sang "Hearts on Fire."

Echoing the record's travel motif, James' label launched a copy of Only Ticket Home into orbit to celebrate its release. Perhaps they also saw a metaphor for Gavin James' brilliant career, which has gone stratospheric while not losing touch with its earthly origins.