Los Angeles, CA

1983

Dance-pop singer Samantha James is inspired less by the R&B divas one would expect in her chosen style of music than by a subtler breed of 1980s singers influenced by vintage cocktail jazz and bossa nova, such as Basia, Sade, and Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl, as well as contemporaries working in the same general style such as Bebel Gilberto or Miho Hatori of Smokey & Miho. Born and raised in Los Angeles, James is the granddaughter of the late David Rose, the orchestra leader and film and television soundtrack composer best known for his 1962 instrumental hit "The Stripper." Her debut album, Rise, co-written and produced by Sebastian Arocha Morton (aka Rocasound), was released in 2007 by the San Francisco-based electronica label OM Records, preceded by the single of the same name, which hit number one on the Billboard club chart in 2006. ~ Stewart Mason