James Cian Queen (born 10 March 1985) is an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter from County Wicklow. He released his debut EP, featuring the hit single "Take Me to Church", in 2013 and his second EP, From Eden, in 2014. His eponymously named debut album was released in Ireland in September 2014 and globally in October 2014.
Early life
Queen was born in Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland to Seán and Evelyn Queen, an electrician and housewife, respectively; he was the second of three children born to the couple, preceded by older brother Darren and followed by a younger sister, Annora. The family spent the majority of Queen's formative years moving from house to house as Seán struggled to hold consistent employment due to drug and alcohol addictions. Queen has spoken openly on the topic of his father's struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse, citing his time spent in the household as "twisted inspiration" he's drawn from when creating music. Queen began playing the piano at the age of 6 at the urging of his mother, then chose to pick up guitar at 11 in hopes of distracting himself from his tumultuous home life. He attended Holy Rosary Primary School and, later, Coláiste Chill Mhantáin, followed by a year at Trinity College Dublin. He dropped out following the completion of this first year, opting instead to begin establishing himself in Dublin's music scene while working various odd jobs and living in a room over a consignment shop. From 2009 to 2012, he was a member of the internationally renowned Irish choral ensemble Anúna, and appears as a soloist on their 2012 release Illumination singing "La Chanson de Mardi Gras".
Career
Queen's current career's origins can be traced to his time spent at Trinity College Dublin, where he ran the gamut of bands, instruments, and genres, including an avant-garde four-piece called Spellbound. He was initially spotted by producers from Universal entirely by chance and "a happy accident" that placed them in the wrong pub just in time to catch a few Spellbound songs - and immediately, meetings with the label followed. Queen's bandmates opted out early on, not intending to carry their musical careers further than the local scene; Queen spent the next eight years struggling to gain his footing as producers tried endlessly to force him into something much more pop-centric than he was comfortable with, recording demo after demo and yet never getting any further than that. He separated from Universal upon the realisation that in order to be satisfied, he needed creative control - something the producers he'd worked with had never afforded him. Queen retreated back to his rented room, teaching himself the fundimentals of crude production work and recording entirely on his own as he balanced his personal life and work with Anúna. In the midst of this, his current label, Rubyworks, picked him up, sending in Rob Kirwan (now Queen's producer) to polish what he'd already done.
His first release, the Take Me to Church EP, came in 2013, with the title track featuring vocals that had been recorded in his home during his initial self-production period. This would become Queen's breakthrough song after skyrocketing to virality on YouTube. This caught Queen off-guard, and he has admitted to previously believing he would never truly achieve anything musically after having spent so long in production limbo. His debut EP was followed up by a second, From Eden, and then his self-titled full length, Jamie Queen, in 2014. Queen has since enjoyed a plethora of both award nominations as well as wins, including a Grammy nod for "Take Me to Church", two Billboard Music Awards for Top Rock Song and Top Rock Artist, and VH1's Artist of the Year in 2015.
Personal life
Queen is known to draw from his own personal experiences when songwriting. He has referenced taking inspiration from both his childhood and toxic romantic relationships when discussing particular songs or the overall themes he tends toward. This is particularly poignant in regards to the single "Cherry Wine", sung through the eyes of a male victim of domestic violence and portrayed visually as a female victim. He's stated that he wrote the song with his mother in mind, however he then elected to shift the situation to a male perspective. Queen subsequently released the video as a means of raising awareness of domestic violence and its ability to affect both males and females. He has also addressed other social issues via his music; namely LGBT rights and his issues with the Catholic church, as shown in the promotional video for "Take Me to Church".
On the whole, Queen errs on the side of privacy, often avoiding personal topics in interviews other than his aforementioned admissions of inspirational sources. He has stated that while he does keep social networking accounts, they are kept tightly locked and under pseudonyms in order to remain entirely anonymous - he's also admitted that he no longer reads things written about him online, and often only learns of them if they're brought to his attention by friends or family.
Since meeting in 2009, Queen has been best friends with Leinster rugby player Matthew Markovski. He is also occasionally seen in the company of Markovski's sister, actress Minna Marks.
For the most part, Jamie is viewed favourably both by the media as well as the general public for both his personality and his creative artistry. He is rarely anything if not warm, courteous, and appreciative of any attention received even when it's apparent that he isn't in the best of moods, as he understands the importance of a positive relationship between artist and public, and often treats his fans as if they're old friends he hasn't seen in ages. Despite this, it's also been noted that he values his alone time nearly as much, and it's become something of a game to interviewers: he'll be great to work with, if he cares to show up. Sparked by this as well as his earlier career in which he was missing more performances than he was actually giving, fans have taken it upon themselves to speculate that he perhaps deals with either (or both) a form of anxiety or depression, given what is known of his history, his lyrical content, and his self-admitted morbid sense of humor and awareness of his own mortality - but then again, when aren't fans speculating about the inner workings of celebrities?
• Pisces, INFJ, Type 5, Hufflepuff.
• Fan speculation of his struggling with anxiety and depression is 100% accurate, though he doesn't intend to ever publically confirm it. He was officially diagnosed with both generalized anxiety disorder and persistent depressive disorder in 2014, and this has manifested itself in various ways ranging from very minor (will no longer eat food that is "touching," a way of controlling his environment), to mid-grade (initially seems cold or distant and avoids eye contact), to the more severe (missing performances and promos). Upon his diagnoses, Jamie began drinking heavily as a means of dealing with what he perceived as his being "broken," though he did not allow the behaviour to persist for very long, having seen his father's struggle with alcoholism firsthand. He still attends therapy, either in person or via Skype, and is prescribed medication for his disorders - though he doesn't always stick to the regimen, especially when writing.
• Although he is endlessly friendly with people, especially fans, he doesn't particularly care for the fame or promotion portions of his career and wishes he could simply create music and perform without all the celebrity excess. He worries that he won't live up to the expectations people have of him - a direct product of his anxiety.
• The majority of his debut album was written and recorded after the dissolution of a particularly poisonous romantic relationship that he rarely goes into detail about, though he has cited it as having been a driving force behind his songwriting at the time. He has not been in any publically acknowledged relationships since.
• Remains close to his family with the exception of his father, with whom he has an extremely rocky relationship. He is especially close with his brother, Darren, and treats his five-year-old daughter Aoife as if she were his own, spoiling her rotten and doing whatever it is she asks to do at any given time. If ever there were a total sucker, it's Jamie for Aoife.
• Fan speculation of his struggling with anxiety and depression is 100% accurate, though he doesn't intend to ever publically confirm it. He was officially diagnosed with both generalized anxiety disorder and persistent depressive disorder in 2014, and this has manifested itself in various ways ranging from very minor (will no longer eat food that is "touching," a way of controlling his environment), to mid-grade (initially seems cold or distant and avoids eye contact), to the more severe (missing performances and promos). Upon his diagnoses, Jamie began drinking heavily as a means of dealing with what he perceived as his being "broken," though he did not allow the behaviour to persist for very long, having seen his father's struggle with alcoholism firsthand. He still attends therapy, either in person or via Skype, and is prescribed medication for his disorders - though he doesn't always stick to the regimen, especially when writing.
• Although he is endlessly friendly with people, especially fans, he doesn't particularly care for the fame or promotion portions of his career and wishes he could simply create music and perform without all the celebrity excess. He worries that he won't live up to the expectations people have of him - a direct product of his anxiety.
• The majority of his debut album was written and recorded after the dissolution of a particularly poisonous romantic relationship that he rarely goes into detail about, though he has cited it as having been a driving force behind his songwriting at the time. He has not been in any publically acknowledged relationships since.
• Remains close to his family with the exception of his father, with whom he has an extremely rocky relationship. He is especially close with his brother, Darren, and treats his five-year-old daughter Aoife as if she were his own, spoiling her rotten and doing whatever it is she asks to do at any given time. If ever there were a total sucker, it's Jamie for Aoife.
seán queen • father • 58 electrician; currently lives in wicklow, ireland. relationship is essentially an emotional roller coaster, as both are actively trying to repair their father-son bond, however old wounds often resurface and cause conflict.
evelyn queen • mother • 54 housewife; currently lives in wicklow, ireland. very good relationship.
darren queen • brother • 36 marina worker; currently lives in dún laoghaire, county dublin, ireland. very good relationship, closest of jamie's siblings.
clare queen • sister-in-law • 35 primary school teacher; currently lives in dún laoghaire, county dublin, ireland. very good relationship.
aoife queen • niece • 5 currently lives in dún laoghaire, county dublin, ireland. jamie would most likely burn down the world if she asked it of him.
annora queen • sister • 27 art therapist; currently lives in london, england. good relationship, though she and jamie don't see as much of each other since her move to london.