James Morrison: Being dropped by record label was more positive than negative

James Morrison has said it was a “blow” when he was dropped by his record label, but now sees the setback as “more positive than negative.”

The singer shot to fame with hits such as You Give Me Something and Broken Strings, but after releasing four studio albums with Universal Music, including 2015’s Higher Than Here, he was dropped from the label.

He is now releasing new record You’re Stronger Than You Know on his own label, Stanley Park Records.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It’s more positive to me than negative. At the start it was a bit of a blow, but now I’m doing it myself and I feel a bit more confident in the space that I’m in.

“I feel I’m being supported a little bit more in the right way as an artist so that in turn helped me be more creative easily, so I’m loving where I’m at.”

Morrison, 34, added he feels much more confident now than he did when starting out in his twenties.

He said: “I don’t feel as scared. I just felt so scared and I was a shy lad and then all of a sudden I was on telly having to do interviews.

“I am still finding my way a bit, but I’m more confident in the way that having kids and being a little bit older just allows me to process it and see it for what it is and enjoy the journey a little bit more, rather than constantly wanting to get to the destination, which is the hit or whatever it is, to feel like success.”

He added he is also stronger after living through a string of personal tragedies, including the death of his father and losing two babies.

He said: “I’m not going to sit here and go on about how hard it was, that is just life.

“I think I’ve been blessed with a career in music and the fact that I’m still here making music is amazing, I just feel proud that I’ve come through it.”

He said the track Power on his new album is a tribute to his partner Gill, penned after she gave birth to their second daughter, Ada-Rose, prematurely.

He said: “It was just after we had had the baby and we had been through so much. I think it just took it out of her and she was feeling a little bit low, and she was my hero at that time.

“After everything we have been through, as a woman to go through the whole process of having a baby – a difficult pregnancy, and all that – she came out of it. And I just wanted to write her a song that let her know how amazing she is. And it worked, ‘cos she played it the other day and she loves that song.

“I could have got it wrong and she could have hated the song, but it did exactly what I wanted it to do, which was uplift her and sound like a really positive uplifting song.”