James had a really bad case of foot poisoning holiday in 1994:
He goes on to explain, how a meal of pork, beans and rice, while on holiday in Cuba in 1994 almost left him for dead and has made him very precious about his voice.
‘Within two hours of eating that meal, I was like deathly ill. It really hit me. I dunno if you’ve ever had food poisoning, but you literally feel like you’re gonna die. I was dizzy – almost incoherent – just a terrible experience.’
‘In layman’s terms, I ruptured my vocal chords. I went to see three specialists and they all said it would take a long time to recover – yet two weeks later I had to be in Japan singing again. I must say that up until the end of the ‘Six degrees..’ tour, it was only then that I felt my voice was coming back to full strength, That was when I went back to study with this girl Victoria and I think I’m singing better than ever now – both studio and live.’
