James Baley is a Canadian singer and dancer from Toronto, Ontario, whose debut album A Story was released in 2021.
A longtime figure in Toronto's ballroom culture scene, Baley first became known as a musician when he contributed vocals to Azari's 2018 single "Gotasoul", which was a Juno Award nominee for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019. In 2020 he was a featured vocalist on "Champagne", a single from July Talk's Juno-winning album Pray for It, and has also been a guest vocalist with U.S. Girls, Zaki Ibrahim and Badge Époque Ensemble.
He released A Story in 2021, and promoted the album with an "immersive" live show at Toronto's Great Hall on October 22, which blended live music, ballroom performance and multimedia elements.
In 2022, Baley and filmmaker Kyisha Williams created a performance video for the ballroom competition series CBX: Canadian Ballroom Extravaganza.
He is out as gay.
References
- Robert Rowat, "From brimstone to ballroom, musician James Baley prevails to tell a powerful story". CBC Music, March 2, 2022.
- "Cots' meditation on loneliness, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week". CBC Music, August 18, 2021.
- Carrie Battan, "Azari's 'Gotasoul,' a Song That Unites the Church and the Club". The New Yorker, September 19, 2018.
- "Shawn Mendes and the Weeknd lead the 2019 Juno nominations". CBC Music, January 29, 2019,
- Steve Horowitz, "July Talk Transform on 'Pray for It'". Pop Matters, July 31, 2020.
- ^ Liisa Ladouceur, "James Baley fuses Gospel vocals with house music". Words and Music, October 7, 2021.
- Richard Trapunski, "Toronto's best music 2021: albums, concerts and so many songs to stream" Archived 2022-07-02 at the Wayback Machine. Now, December 9, 2021.
- "The best things to do in Toronto this weekend: October 22-24". Now, October 21, 2021.
- S. Bear Bergman, "Ocean Vuong, the 'Canadian Ballroom Extravaganza' and lots of trans feelings". Xtra!, March 31, 2022.
- 21st-century Black Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian singers
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Ball culture people
- Black Canadian dancers
- Black Canadian LGBTQ people
- Canadian gay musicians
- Canadian house musicians
- Canadian rhythm and blues singers
- Living people
- Singers from Toronto