James Clarke (AKA Hughes) is a singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who first made his musical mark in the 80s as a member of Liverpool band The Cherry Boys, who were most famous for their single Kardomah Cafe, a minor hit in the UK and a top 10 hit in Spain.  Later he formed Exhibit B who released the cult classic album Playing Dead, which was re-released in expanded form by the Japanese label Favorite in 2007.

James now releases music as James Clarke Five and is firmly establishing a reputation as a great songwriter.  His song Sexbombe Über Alles was the main theme of the film Last Shop Standing, and the song now has 1.2 million streams on Spotify.  He also has two songs in the film Soundtrack to Sixteen, which was chosen to open the 2019 London Independent Film Festival, and has just been released in South Korea.

His album ParlourSounds was released in 2019 by Canadian label The Beautiful Music, and gained overwhelmingly ecstatic reviews, even being named Best Album of 2019 by Country Mile Records.

Two further critically-acclaimed albums followed: Underneath the Lemon Tree (2021) and Zoom and the Gadflies (2024)

"So tuneful, so uplifting…imagine a lost Sir Paul McCartney album, circa 'McCartney' and 'Ram,' with Ray Davies stopping by to contribute his cabaret-leaning eccentricities."
http://www.mikedeangelis.com/

"Clarke adds touches of glam rock to his power pop leanings, recalling T. Rex and Adam and The Ants... A meticulously constructed set of songs, quite a joy for all power pop and melodic rock fans."
(Rockatnight.com)

"James Clarke can draw influences from the circus, the hotel lounge and test card transmissions because he sees the potential for happy, joyful music everywhere" (Popintherealworld.com)

"Is this guy some kinda locked-in-his-bedroom genius?"
https://daggerzine.tumblr.com/
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