Tim Booth

Tim Booth is the lead singer of the band James, who have sold over 25 million records worldwide and recently celebrated their 13th UK Top 10 album. In 2023, the band received the Ivor Novello “Legendary” Award for songwriting. Tim’s lyrics range widely in subject matter, exploring childbirth, death, transcendence, and global warming—topics he was writing about as early as the 1980s—as well as the shoot-to-kill policy in Ireland and the rise of fascism in America. Alongside his work with James, he has released two solo albums and collaborated with composer Angelo Badalamenti. At the age of 21, Tim experienced a near-death episode caused by an incurable inherited liver disease. After years of illness and despair, he immersed himself in alternative medicine and spiritual practice, meditating for hours each day, living celibately, and abstaining from alcohol and drugs. He studied past life regression and Eastern mysticism, and worked with some of the most extreme practitioners of “alternative health“. In the 1990s, Tim met Gabrielle Roth and trained in her ecstatic dance practice, which he has been teaching for over 30 years. He is also trained in Voice Dialogue therapy and has taught the Meisner technique at the Actors Centre in London. As an actor, his screen work includes a role in Batman Begins (2005). In 2024, Tim released his debut novel, When I Died for the First Time, which became a Times Top 10 bestseller.