Today we’d like to introduce you to James Hooper.
Thanks for sharing your story with us James. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In my earlier years, I had never shown much interesting in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. What I will tell most people is that basketball and skateboarding were the “music” for me before I actually DID music. I developed an interest in entertainment after watching a YouTube video when I was 16 years old of an artist named Jacob Latimore, who would eventually grow to be one of my inspirations and one of the primary reasons behind why I began seriously pursuing a career in entertainment. From that point forward, I began teaching myself how to dance and sing and about a year later, I discovered a performing arts school called RISPA that I attended for a year. At 18 years old, I began pursuing acting in order to become a triple threat (singing, dancing and acting) and I landed my first acting agent the following year (2015).
In 2016, I booked my first supporting role in the film “A Question of Faith” which released in theaters nationwide September of 2017. The film provided me with the opportunity to travel to Bermuda to promote the film, as well as to Los Angeles for the Hollywood red carpet premiere of the film and at the time, I was attending Kennesaw State University and had to juggle school, music, working full-time, and acting all at the same time. So once I graduated, I primarily devoted my time and focus to working full-time and the music.
The first major accomplishment in my career was when I flew out to Los Angeles to shoot a video to “All Day” a single I released in 2017. Through this experience, I had the opportunity to work closely with engineer Ben Hogarth and videographer Will “Flexx” Fernandez, who both work personally with Jason Derulo. From 2017-2018, I worked very closely with Qurriculum Global, a label founded by my fellow artist and close friend Eddy Fuego. While working with them, I released a number of singles that I had the opportunity to record at what I consider one of the top recording studios in Atlanta, 11th Street.
In May of 2019, I released an independent album called “Elevate”. The album stemmed from a number of experiences that I had gone through from the end of 2018 to mid-2019, and the project as a whole represents the growth that I had achieved throughout this period. Being that this project defined me, I adopted the album as my brand, represented by the arrow, found on my merchandise and the cover of the album. I had released a number of projects before, such as “My Paradise” (2018), the album engineered entirely by Ben Hogarth, and over dozens of singles, but I believe that “Elevate” is where I truly started to find my sound as well as how I wanted to identify myself. This project was also when I started entirely engineering my own music. Shortly after “Elevate” released in May of 2019, I began headlining shows at Smiths Olde Bar in Atlanta.
In the summer of 2019, I released a video to “Don’t Wanna Fall”, a single from the album. This project was when I started working closely with Jerrell Lamar & Jai Green of the production team OPN SZN (based in Atlanta). On December 31st of 2019, I released a single called “Ooo Yeah”, and the video (produced by OPN SZN) was my first released project of the new year in 2020. On July 17th, I released the official audio and video to “Say Yes”, the debut single off of my upcoming independent album “Eleven”, releasing July 24th, 2020. All of my achievements thus far have been made as an independent artist and my goal moving forward is to continue growing my brand and continue making music that not only inspires but shares a sense of vulnerability that listeners can relate to. This is just the beginning!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been the smoothest road, but I believe that everything happens in God’s perfect timing! Everything regarding my career has happened accordingly. Some of the biggest struggles came from trying to meet release deadlines, not having enough funding to invest in my career, as well as finding the time to manage everything going on outside of music. When I first began pursuing music, the biggest struggle for me personally was overcoming my shy nature and really putting myself out there. I had a hard time determining who to network with and most importantly, who to trust. There were a number of times where I was promised something that I never received, as well as times where I couldn’t get projects/tracks of mine that I had worked on with other engineers/producers. These struggles all come with the nature of the industry and the goal is to keep growing, keep learning, and to be strong in your faith and eventually, everything will begin falling into place.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a singer, dancer, and actor. I believe that the majority of my strong suits lie within music; specifically within singing and songwriting. I also have my brand, “Elevate” where I sell merchandise. I am most proud of all the accomplishments that I have been able to make as an independent artist. What sets me apart from others is my persistence and drive, my experience, as well as the melodically unique way that I deliver my thoughts lyrically on a track.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My plans for the future are to inspire those who might not necessarily feel that they have a purpose for their life through my music, as well as to bring comfort in situations that I know everyone experiences, such as relationships, heartbreak, etc. As far as for myself, my goal is to continue creating timeless music and growing my brand and audience in hopes to touch millions of people around the world. I also want to get back into acting after slowing down for this prolonged period of time. As far as what’s for certain, the music is only getting crazier!
Pricing:
- “Elevate” hats can be purchased from my website for $25-$30 through my website at https://www.jameshooperelevate.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jameshooperelevate.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameshooperiii/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesHooperIIIMusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jameshooperiii?lang=en
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCumXk7TOCuBRT-1glwSZHjg
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