page_title: Casey James
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Casey James / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Casey James performing on the American Idol Live tour in Denver, CO on 8/23/2010
context_page_description: Casey Everett James is an American singer and guitarist from Fort Worth, Texas, who was the third-place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol and is an independent recording artist. He released his eponymous album in March 2012 from which three singles, "Let's Don't Call It a Night", "Crying on a Suitcase", and "The Good Life" were released. In October 2014, James released "Fall Apart" as the first single from a planned second studio album, but Sony opted not to release the record and they split ways. In 2017, James released his second album, Strip It Down, to critical acclaim.
context_section_description: James was born on May 31, 1982 in Plano, Texas, to Debra "Bybee" and Beau James. The family moved to Princeton, Texas, but after his parents divorced when James was about four, his mother raised him and his brother Billy Cole in Cool, Texas. James had a bad reaction to his pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine when he was an infant, and his family feared brain damage. According to his mother, however, she realized that he would be all right and was going to be musical when he started humming the theme song from M*A*S*H.
  James started playing the guitar at 13 and within a year was playing on stage. James has played acoustic sets with his mother, and blues with his older brother.  He has also played with country and rock bands. At the age of 21, he was in a serious motorcycle accident that nearly ended his life.  He was told by his doctor that he would no longer be able to play guitar, a medical prediction that proved untrue. During the American Idol hometown visits, James returned to the hospital where he was treated for his injuries and presented an autographed guitar to his surgeon, Dr. Cory Collinge.
  Before American Idol, he played with his band, The Casey James Band, consisting of James, his brother, Billy Cole (bass), and Jacy McCann (drums). They recorded four songs, including the first song that James ever wrote, "Freezing," back in 2002.
caption: James performing on the American Idol Live! tour in Denver, Colorado, on August 23, 2010
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