Boney James und Jeffrey Osborne

Born James Oppenheim, the young James had discovered the joys of jazz music by a very early age, taking up the clarinet at the tender age of eight before switching to the saxophone by the time he was 10. However, it wasn’t until his family upped sticks from New York to Los Angeles when James was 14 that he started performing live around the jazz clubs of his new home state. As time went on James began to pick up other instruments, and after he’d finished his history degree at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985 he became a session keyboardist, joining the backing band of R&B legend Morris Day.

While on tour with Day he convinced his paymaster to let him switch from keys to his primary instrument, the sax. After Day agreed, James’ name began to spread about his mastery on the tenor, alto and soprano Sax, alongside his considerable skills on keys and the flute. After leaving Day’s band, his clients included everyone from the Isley Brothers to Teena Marie and Sheena Easton, but it was while he was on tour with Randy Crawford in 1986 that he picked up his stage name. See, all this performing didn’t lead to enormous pay-checks, and James said to a fellow band member that he was running out of food money.His bandmate replied that if he started eating any less "We'll have to start calling you Boney James!".

James took the name to heart and has used it as a stage name ever since. Years passed going from backing band to backing band, but everything would change in the early 90’s, when his playing caught the attention of an engineer and producer called Paul Brown while playing in Bobby Caldwell’s band. Brown was so taken with his playing and the music that he wrote that he negotiated a contract with the independent label Spindletop Records for James and by 1992, James’ first solo album “Trust”, was released. For an independent album released before the internet revolution, it was a hit, one big enough to snag James a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records.

Since then, James has become one of the most respected jazz artists of his generation, consistently releasing great albums, collaborating with everyone under the sun and even having three of his albums go gold. Even a car crash in 2010 that fractured his jaw and shattered two of his teeth couldn’t keep him out of commission for longer than two months. He’s a true artist that has never been anywhere other than the top of his game, and in the highly competitive world of jazz, one that demands the very best out of everyone who performs in it, that’s a very rare thing indeed. Highly recommended.

Osborne was born in Providence, Rhode Island, US to a very large and musical family. He is the youngest of 12 children (a sibling to 6 sisters and 5 brothers). Several of his brothers and sisters also pursued careers as musicians, one of them being his older brother Billy who was his fellow bandmate in L.T.D and is now a L.A. based producer/songwriter. Jeffrey’s oldest brother Clay Osborne is a professional pianist and vocalist.

Though Jeffrey’s father died when he was only 13 years old he inherited his strong skill and passion for music from him. Clarence “Legs” Osbourne was a jazz trumpet player whose past collaborators include Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. Jeffrey’s father often sacrificed many important stints as a musician to be with his family and always encouraged his children's aspirations.

Jeffrey joined the group L.T.D. as the drummer and moved out to Los Angeles with them when he was in his early teens. While he was out in L.A. he also sat in as the drummer for the O’Jays when the band’s official drummer did not feel up to playing.

Jeffrey eventually filled in as the lead singer for L.T.D. and led the group to success with a string of hit R&B albums throughout the 70s and early 80s. Two of the band’s albums, 1977s “Something to Love” and 1979s “Devotion” were certified Gold and reached No.1 and No.5 on the US R&B charts consecutively. Their 1978 album “Togetherness” went Platinum and debuted at No.3 on the US R&B charts.

Osborne put out his self-titled debut album in 1982 and scored two top 40 hits on the pop charts with “On Wings of Love” and “I Really Don’t Need No Light”. His next release “Stay with Me Tonight” proved to be an even bigger success reaching Gold status and going on to claim Platinum certification. This album was well-received both in the US and the UK, with it’s single “Stay with Me Tonight” climbing to No. 18 on the UK charts.

In 1985 Osborne co-wrote the Whitney Houston single “All at Once”, which appeared on her monumental self-titled debut. That same year he contributed to the USA for Africa campaign, collaborating on the song “We Are the World”.

Throughout Osborne’s career he has recorded a total of 5 albums that went either Gold or Platinum. In 1990 he signed on with record label Artista and released the album “Only Human”. In 1997 Osborne released his Christmas album “Something Warm for Christmas” and two years later issued a greatest hits compilation entitled “Ultimate Collection”. During the 2000s Osborne entered into contracts with several independent labels and released albums such as 2000’s “That’s for Sure”, 2003’s “Music is Life”, 2005’s “From the Soul”, and 2013’s “A Time To Love”.