Scottish singer-songwriter, born 28th September 1951, Bridgetown, Glasgow, Scotland - died 8th October 2015 in London.
His musical career started at 15 when he joined his first band. He spent the next seven years performing vocals for various soul and blues bands. For four of those years he toured Europe with Gully Foyle.
At 22 he started his own 5-piece soul outfit, Bandit. Performing Jim's own compositions, they landed a recording contract with [l362]. Their eponymous album Bandit received critical acclaim but was unsuccessful sales-wise.
Jim left Bandit and joined Alexis Korner, singing with him for the next two years.
He then moved to Los Angeles, USA, and joined guitarist Earl Slick and drummer Carmine Appice to form Slick Diamond. During this period he also did production work in Japan and wrote a film title track.
The 1980's turned out to be his most successful decade sales-wise. Returning to the UK, Jim formed Ph.D. with keyboardist Tony Hymas and drummer Simon Phillips (both of the Jeff Beck Band). Their album Ph.D. enjoyed worldwide commercial and critical success, with the single I Won't Let You Down becoming a multi-million Number one. The band stayed together less than two years.
Jim returned to working solo and came back with another worldwide Number One, the ballad I Should Have known Better, which got him a nomination for the Ivor Novello Best Single Award. He then wrote and performed the theme tune to Central TV (UK) series Boon. Hi Ho Silver went to No. 5 in the UK charts. This run of mid 1980's success ended with the departure of his Record Company boss, Derek Green.
Jim continued recording, and by 1993 he had released Jim Diamond the album. Now out of print, it went straight into the UK Top 20 Album Chart on release, peaking at Number 16.
Jim continued to perform solo and works with saxophonist Snake Davis in their duo The Blue Shoes.