caption birth_place article_title background genre image origin name occupation
james festival 2007 poyser at the black lily film & music sheffield , england james poyser
 non_vocal_instrumentalist gospel , soul , neo soul , hip hop file : james poyser.jpg philadelphia , pennsylvania james poyser songwriter , producer , musician
james poyser

james poyser -lrb- born 30 january 1967 , in sheffield , england -rrb- is a songwriter , musician , producer and a member of hip hop band , the roots .
poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists including erykah badu , mariah carey , john legend , lauryn hill , common , anthony hamilton , d'angelo , the roots , and keyshia cole .
during his career , poyser has toured , and played live with such distinctive artists as jay-z , the roots , erykah badu , and aretha franklin .
an active session musician , he has contributed to the works of adele , norah jones , eric clapton , joss stone , ziggy marley , macy gray and femi kuti .
poyser received a grammy for best r&b song in 2003 for co-writing erykah badu and common 's hit `` love of my life . ''
james was also the executive producer on badu 's highly celebrated albums , `` mama 's gun '' and `` worldwide underground '' .
a longtime collaborator with the band dating back to `` things fall apart '' , poyser officially joined the roots in 2009 , performing live as the houseband for nbc 's `` late night with jimmy fallon '' , and subsequently `` the tonight show starring jimmy fallon '' .
he is sometimes used as comic foil , especially for his use of deadpan facial expressions .
poyser also tours with the band and regularly performs at the band 's live shows .
