James grew up in the Windy City, Chicago. His greatest musical influences were his hometown soul artists - The Impressions, Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler and the Chi Lites. As a pre-teenager, he began playing guitar and writing songs - Curtis Mayfield being his biggest influence. As a teenager he wrote two sides for Dee Clark, "I Can't Runaway" b/w "She's My Baby", both featured on the release, Westside CD - Dee Clark "Take Care Of Business, The Constellation Masters. He penned 4 Top Ten hits for a local pop group called The Buckinghams. "Kind Of A Drag" was # 1 and has sold over 1 million copies. He later followed it up with hits, "Don't You Care", "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" and "Susan".