Ryland James

Singer and songwriter Ryland James delivers gospel-infused contemporary pop through a resonant, soul-rooted vocal approach. His major-label introduction came via the self-titled EP in 2020, which earned him a pair of Juno Award nominations. In 2021 he continued issuing material, among them the romantic track “3 Purple Hearts.”

Born and raised in Deseronto, Ontario, James grew up in a household that featured a grandmother who performed gospel piano. He began singing at an early age while also competing in youth sports; at ten, a television performance of a Jackson 5 cover on Britain’s Got Talent prompted him to shift his primary focus to music. During his late teens, manager Chris Smith discovered him and placed him with Universal’s affiliated imprint 21 Entertainment. The 2017 single “Good to You” received its Universal rollout in early 2019, after which James joined Alessia Cara on a Canadian tour. Before year’s end he released a holiday song and accumulated millions of streams for “In My Head.” The Ryland James EP appeared in September 2020, featuring the Billboard Adult Top 40 hit “Water,” and was followed later that year by the seasonal project A Little Christmas.

Early 2021 brought the standalone single “Blame,” along with a featured appearance on Shaun Frank’s dance single “Save Me,” coinciding with James’s Juno nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year; his debut EP also received a nod for Pop Album of the Year. Drawing from a personal romance and his public identification as queer, he released “3 Purple Hearts” in June 2021.