Faces of Galway 87/100
Meet Jamie from Maree.
There aren't many 25 year olds who have just purchased an old ambulance. Fresh off a trip to Australia and New Zealand Jamie was inspired by the sense of freedom from driving around in a self contained campervan. He now wants to bring this freedom as he tours Ireland and the U.K.
We met Jamie on a quiet stone beach in Maree, a place where is goes for solitude and to get his thoughts together. He seems to have had a long battle between his head and his heart, what he thinks he should do and what he longs to do. When Jamie left school he started studying a degree in Architecture at U.L. At the same time he was training for the Galway Minor hurling team, with whom he won an All-Ireland Medal. Not enjoying studying architecture he decided to change to PE Teaching, feeling that at least it would help him maintain his fitness. He lasted two years studying this before he realised that sport wasn't really what he wanted. He enjoyed it but didn't desire it; it was music that he needed to pursue.
For anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing Jamie busk on the streets of Galway, they know that he has a talent that is taking him far. Once a crowd forms, they don't move on, he has a way to draw the audience in and keep them. He selflessly used his talent to raise over €6,000 for local Galway girl, Lily Mae Morrison and even on his recent travels took part in a fundraising busking session in Melbourne, Australia. Jamie has attracted a lot of attention in the music industry and has already had an EP produced by multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Ken Nelson. Jamie’s debut single, “If I Only Knew Your Name” was released on the 16th of October 2015 and it got the attention of director Nicholas Lam who invited to Los Angeles to shoot a music video. Jamie is preparing to release his most recent work in the next few months and feels he has now found a style which is very true to himself. Make sure you check out his work here and if you are lucky enough to see him perform make sure you say hi!