James Rousseau

James Rousseau (born James Rousseau Osborne December 19, 1980) is an English model turned singer-songwriter. He is descended from the family of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), the philosopher whose writings influenced the French revolutionary movement.

Early life

James was born in Ashford, Kent, UK though he grew up in the Herefordshire village of Much Marcle, in the English midlands countryside. The village is notorious for also being the family home of the serial killer Fred West. He was educated at one of the UK's top independent schools, Malvern College in Worcestershire and despite starting his modeling career during his last year at school, he still managed to obtain the qualifications necessary to attend a top British university. This, however, was put on hold while he developed his career as a model.

Modeling

It was a painting and decorating holiday job in London that accidentally led to the start of his modeling career. Someone suggested he had good enough looks to become a model, so, for a joke, he dropped in at the nearest agency, Select Models, with no previous experience and no portfolio, and expecting to go nowhere. Just as he was being turned away for having no pictures, one of the agents decided to take a few shots there and then. Within days, Select found they had a new hot property on their hands as clients started picking out James for their campaigns. He just happened to have the boyish and androgynous look that was the fashion of the moment, although he hates being called a "pretty boy".

Within three weeks, James was booked to work with Steven Meisel in New York City for Italian Vogue. Two weeks after that, Miu Miu booked him for its inaugural campaign, which really launched his modeling career. Within two years he had become internationally known as one of the best male models on the circuit, regularly recognised in the streets by fans in Asia, Europe and the Americas. He has worked with all the top fashion photographers, including Mario Testino who has included a portrait of James in one of his books. He has recently fronted the Thomas Pink campaign and a Jaeger campaign in the UK. His first campaign for Jaeger, as they sought a younger market for their clothes, resulted in a doubling of their turnover. He is currently fronting a UK campaign for House of Fraser.

Over the years, James Rousseau has appeared in Cerruti Jeans, Exte, Yves Saint-Laurent, Hugo Boss, and many others. His notable editorial appearances include Citizen K, GQ, Elle, Esquire, L'Uomo Vogue, Numero Homme, Wallpaper, and Arena Homme Plus.

James has been one of the very few British students that have qualified to train at the Stella Adler School of Acting in New York.

Music

His ambitions include creating and recording his own music and he has already written the words and music of a number of songs. His formal introduction to music began at the age of six when he was taught to play the violin by Barry Moore, deputy leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Later, when he attended Abberley Hall Preparatory School in Worcestershire, where learning a musical instrument was a compulsory part of the curriculum, he became a competent clarinet player and also started to learn the saxophone. He also had a fine singing voice and was head chorister at the school.

James says that one of his principle musical influences was his mother. "Music has always been a big part of my life. My mum plays the guitar and so she used to strum chord progressions and I'd sing with her and make up a melody as I went along, so I loved to harmonise and improvise from a young age. On the stereo there was always Dylan, Neil Young and Johnny Cash playing and I think a lot of my song writing is inspired by those people." (BBC interview with Howard Bentham, 21 January 2008) Since leaving school James has taught himself to play the guitar with the aim of making a long-term career for himself as a singer-songwriter.

While he was in Sydney over the New Year 2008, James met one of Australia's leading music producers, Louis Schoorl [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=171092019] and spent time with him at his Limestone Studios [http://www.limestonestudios.com.au/] working on various songs he had started over the previous years. With Schoorl's encouragement, James agreed to work on a debut album for release in late 2008. Recording will begin in April 2008. One of these songs, "To Make You Mine", has now been made available free for everyone to hear on James's MySpace site [http://www.myspace.com/jamesrousseau]

Asked in his BBC interview by Howard Bentham whether his girlfriend Kate Bosworth was the inspiration for the song, he said: "I wrote this as a gift for her. Kate's always been a great inspiration for me in my life. I'd put music on the back burner for a while and when we started seeing each other I'd play her songs and she used to say you should definitely go back into the studio and start recording so I owe a lot to her for really pushing me to get back in there."

Other Interests

Having achieved the highest grades at school, James still continues to read as widely as possible, his favourite books being biographies and poetry. He also has a highly developed sense of social justice and a deep concern with environmental issues and is looking for suitable ways in which to make his contribution.

Some other jobs held by James before his modeling career include being an assistant to a rare-stamp collector and postal historian, an assistant to the Bananarama manager, and sweeper of turkey feathers at slaughterhouse near his family home.

"Even though he spends much of his life jet-setting and staying in the most glamorous hotels, James has been known to bring his washing home [to his mother] like any other young man." ("Supermodel son is mother's pride", page 1 story in the Ledbury Reporter 16 February 2007, by Candice Pearson) [1]

Agency

Next Models, New YorkD'Management, MilanSelect Models, London

Personal life

James previously dated fellow supermodel, Ana Beatriz Barros. He has been dating actress Kate Bosworth since September 2006.

External links

* [http://www.jamesrousseau.com James Rousseau] official website
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2008/01/17/james_rousseau_group.shtml James Rousseau biography] by the BBC
* [http://www.myspace.com/jamesrousseau James Rousseau] on MySpace