Jim Diamond

Jim Diamond's haunting voice is universally known through his million selling hits "I Won't Let You Down" and "I Should Have Known" with Ph.d and "I Should Have Known Better", "Hi Ho Silver" solo.

Born in Glasgow's East End, Jim, heavily influenced by the voices of Ray Charles and Otis Redding, joined his first band at the age of 14. At 17 he set off touring extensively through Britain and Europe. Moving to London, he formed the band Bandit and went on to sign to Clive Davis' Arista Records. A 5 star review in the NME brought his voice to the attention of the Godfather of British Blues, Alexis Korner, who invited Jim to record and tour with him. Through Jim's work with Alexis he was approached to move to L.A to form a band with Earl Slick (guitarist on Bowie's "Young Americans" and still playing with David today) and Carmine Appice from Rod Stewart's band.

All three went on to write and record with Eddie Kramer, the legendary producer of Jimmi Hendrix. While in LA, Jim was asked to return to London to hook up with Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips from the Jeff Beck band and so Ph.D were formed. The first single taken from "Ph.D The Album", "I Won't Let You Down" went on to sell millions and become the classic song that it is today. The second album "Is it Safe?" also included a European hit, "I Didn't Know", which featured Jeff Beck on guitar. When Ph.D went their separate ways, Jim signed to AandM Records.

Taken from his 1984 solo album "Double Crossed" the single "I Should Have Known Better" went straight to No.1 and went on to be nominated for an Ivor Novello award. His next single "Hi Ho Silver", taken from his second solo album "Desire for Freedom" scored Jim another top five hit.

Jim then recorded an eponymous top 20 album for Polygram records with Grammy award winner Graham Lyle. After which, Jim went on the road to perform his songs acoustically in art centres across the country ending up at the Edinburgh Festival where The Scotsman described him, in their 5 star review, as Scotland's answer to Ray Charles and a writer of immense depth.