James Harrison

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**Sir James Steven Harrison** CBE (born February 6, 1977) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer, who is best known as the lead guitarist of symphonic metal bands Celestial Sphere and The Dream Factory and as the lead vocalist of deathcore band X Operandi.

He rose to fame as co-founder of metal band Celestial Sphere, originally a black metal band at formation in 1991, but switched to symphonic metal in 1993. Throughout the early years he continued to show aspects of their original genre by performing black metal growls on their debut album *The Sphere* in 1994. Ever since formation Harrison has been the bands primary songwriter originally by himself but alongside sister Caitlyn when they switched genre. Harrison is a multi-instrumentalist, though mainly a guitarist, he has performed bass, piano, drums and strings on Celestial Sphere recordings. Often considered the brains of the band Harrison is known for producing and promoting the bands music which has led them to constant success for nearly 30 years. He is often considered by former members of the band as a "silent deadly" type, often remaining quiet during the bands recordings and meetings but can explode with anger though this has normally been in response to anger faced from his sister.

Away from Celestial Sphere Harrison is the lead vocalist of deathcore band X Operandi that he formed in 1995 and like Celestial Sphere began simply as a duo with his sister Caitlyn before expanding to five members. As part of this band Harrison helped to develop and expand the deathcore genre and is often considered a major influence in extreme metal.

Harrison is often considered one of the most successful songwriters of all-time having written or co-written 34 songs that have topped the *Billboard* Hot 100 and 33 that have topped the UK singles chart. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 as part of Celestial Sphere and in 2002 alongside his sister he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) which was upgraded to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2016. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 2021.

## Discography

### Solo

* *Boundaries Are Open* (2005; with Caitlyn Harrison)
* *Sweet Enclosure* (2007; with Caitlyn Harrison)
* *Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge* (2013)
* *The Red Crown Turns Black* (2021)

### With Celestial Sphere

*Main article: Celestial Sphere discography and list of songs*

* *The Sphere* (1994)
* *Pearls of Light* (1996)
* *Know Why the Nightingale Sings* (1997)
* *The Pharaoh Sails to Orion* (1998)
* *Two for Tragedy* (2000)
* *Slaying the Dreamer* (2002)
* *Illusive Consensus* (2003)
* *Dark Chest of Wonders* (2004)
* *Another Me in Lack'ech* (2005)
* *Cadence of Her Last Breath* (2006)
* *Kingdom of Heaven* (2009)
* *The Crow, the Owl and the Dove* (2011)
* *Serenade of Self-Destruction* (2012)
* *The Essence of Silence* (2014)
* *The Eyes of Sharbat Gula* (2015)
* *Ascension - Dream State Armageddon* (2016)
* *The Golden Chamber* (2019)
* *All the Works of Nature Which Adorn the World* (2020)
* *Sovereign of the Sun Spheres* (2021)

## Personal Life

*Main article: Personal relationships of James Harrison*
Harrison has been married twice, first to singer Jessica Simpson, they met in 1999 whilst Harrison was touring with Celestial Sphere through the United States. They became engaged in early 2000 just six months after dating and married on May 19, 2001. They had two children together Laura (b. 2001) and Rebecca (b. 2003). In mid 2004 following ongoing clashes the pair separated and in October 2004 Harrison filed for divorce from Simpson with their divorce finalised just three days after their fourth anniversary in 2005.

Shortly after his divorce from Simpson, Harrison met Dutch singer Charlotte Wessels whilst recording guitars and some backing vocals on Delain's debut album *Lucidity*. They began a relationship shortly afterwards and in October 2007 they became engaged before marrying on April 9, 2009. Harrison has two further children with Wessels, Nadine (b. 2010) and Jasmijn (b. 2013).