Sleepy James has a secret identity. By night, he's a singer-songwriter plying his trade in the night clubs and coffeehouses of Los Angeles. But by day, like Superman, he's a mild-mannered reporter for a great
metropolitan newspaper. But Sleepy is no Johnny come lately to the world of music. ''I started playing guitar in high school---I did my first paying gig when I was 15,'' James says. ''Actually until I was 35, musicwas the way I earned my living.''
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he grew up in Bay Shore on suburban Long Island where one of his classmates was singer Patti Austin.
''We were in Mr. Issakson's social studies class together," he says. ''Patti even sang a song with my band on the very first gig we ever played." Sleepy and his band, the Strangers, soon rose to prominence in the Long Island/New York music club scene. They released a single, "Remember
My Address, "
produced with the help of an engineer from Bay Shore's only radio station. The song, one of Sleepy's early compositions, was written with bandmates Ron Pallick and Tony Conocenti.
Promoting the single, the band was a hit in the local club circuit and even attracted the attention of a manager who claimed to have discovered the Young Rascals in those same clubs a year or two earlier. But, deciding he’d had enough of the cold weather and the New York scene in general, James let out to the West Coast, arriving in July, 1967, just in time for the Summer of Love.
Over the next few years, James performed as a solo act in Los Angeles’ folk clubs and coffeehouses, sharing stages with likes of Jackson Browne, Don Henley, John David Souter, Glenn Frey and others.
The singer/songwriter later partnered with Dave Borisoff, a banjo player/dobro player/kindred soul and future music mogul. Together they were fixtures on the L.A.’s South Bay area club circuit in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he worked for several years with Kama Sutra recording artist Adrian Loveridge in the band The Splitz.
So for nearly two decades Sleepy James worked clubs; played weddings, bar mitzahs and everything in between; toured with different acts and recorded. Twenty years as a working musician is enough to make anyone tired, and the countless one-nighters eventually took their toll on the drowsy one. Between gigs, Sleepy had managed to stay awake long enough to get married and father two daughters. He was ready for a change.
In 1984, Sleepy abruptly quit music. He went back to school and earned a B.A. in journalism. In 1990, he landed a job. ''For the first time in my life,” said Sleepy, “I had a health plan!''
He wrote a popular weekly music column, but after three years of interviewing musicians, listening to CDs, seeing live acts, and hearing more stories behind the music than psychologically safe, he came to a startling realization.
''It's a lot more fun playing music than it is writing about it!,” Sleepy said.
For the most part, musicians aren't interested in labels, they're interested in something that feels good. But when pressed, however, to make life easy for journalists, Sleepy James might label his own music, “original and eclectic.”
"If you like it, you can call it eclectic; If you don't like it, you can call it unfocused." Sleepy says.
Even a quick listen to Sleepy James’ material reveals strong folk, rock, country and R&B influences.
"My music is my music,'' he adds. ''Why should I limit myself to just one style, when I can use all my influences? Would you ask a painter to paint in only one color?''
And at this stage in his career, Sleepy realizes that he has only himself to please. Like many musicians, Sleepy has come full circle and he's back when it all began-- the music and the way it makes him feel.