James Fearnley is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 musician. He plays accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 in the folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

/punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 The Pogues

The Pogues

The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

.
As a child he was a choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 treble

Boy soprano

A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...

, but his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 lessons but did not enjoy it, so he chose to learn the guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 instead. He played with the singer Nik Wade and later with a group called The Mixers, a band based in Teddington. Fearnley became the guitarist in the last edition of Shane MacGowan's

Shane MacGowan

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

 band The Nipple Erectors

The Nipple Erectors

The Nipple Erectors are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by female punk artist Shanne Bradley and are notable as Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan's first musical group.-Career:...

.

The group then consisted of Shane MacGowan on vocals, Shanne Bradley on bass and Jon Moss

Jon Moss

Jon Moss is an English drummer best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips and The Damned.-Early life:...

 on drums. When The Nips disbanded at the end of 1980, Fearnley joined the soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 band The Giants. Fearnley was asked by Moss if he wanted to become a permanent member of a band in which he sometimes played, Culture Club

Culture Club

Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...

. Due to a misunderstanding, Fearnley never joined Culture Club, and shortly after this the band went on to fame.

Fearnley sold his guitar and spent a year writing a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

. In 1982, MacGowan and Jem Finer

Jem Finer

Jem Finer is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues.-Life and career:...

 were seeking an accordion player for their latest project. MacGowan knew that Fearnley had taken piano lessons and believed that he may have been able play the accordion too. Finer turned up at Fearnley's flat with an accordion in a laundry bag and persuaded him to give it a try. Fearnley was nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d 'maestro' because he could tune the instruments.

In 1989, he married actress Danielle von Zerneck and moved to Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Fearnley left The Pogues in 1994 due to the band's heavy touring schedule, to spend more time with his family. He rejoined the band following the its reunion in 2001.

He was a founding member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra, which released their debut album of spaghetti western

Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...

-styled ballads Goodbye To All That in 1996. This group consisted of former Thelonious Monster

Thelonious Monster

Thelonious Monster is a post-punk rock band from Los Angeles, led by singer-songwriter Bob Forrest. Active from 1983 to 1994, and again since 2004, the band has released five original studio albums...

 vocalist Mike Martt, Circle Jerks

Circle Jerks

The Circle Jerks are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent hardcore punk bands of the L.A. scene in the late 1970s.The band...

' Zander Schloss

Zander Schloss

Zander Schloss is a Los Angeles, California based musician, actor and composer. He is perhaps best known as bass player for The Circle Jerks and The Weirdos and for his contributions to a number of independent feature films. His first screen appearance was as "Kevin the Nerd" in Repo Man...

 (guitar), the brothers Kieran

Kieran Mulroney

Kieran Mulroney is an American actor known for his numerous television appearances. He is also a musician and screenwriter, along with his wife, Michele. He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, where he graduated from T. C. Williams High School. His brother is actor Dermot Mulroney.-Television:* NCIS...

 and Dermot Mulroney

Dermot Mulroney

-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...

 (violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

s, cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, dobro

Dobro

Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

), Tom Barta (bass) and Will Hughes (drums).

Fearnley has appeared as a guest musician on albums with Talking Heads

Talking Heads

Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...

 (Naked), David Byrne

David Byrne (musician)

David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...

, LILT and Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...

 (Yes I Am

Yes I Am

Yes I Am is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released by Island Records on September 21, 1993 . The title is generally thought to refer to Etheridge's recent coming out as a lesbian, confirming long-standing rumors about her personal life. This is the album...

) among other.

In 1995 he wrote the score for the film, "God's Lonely Man".

Fearnley plays accordion, guitar, foot-operated snare drum and sings with Cranky George, 'a band of one-man-bands' with Dermot Mulroney (cello, guitar, mandolin, foot-operated cymbal and hi-hat, and vocals), Kieran Mulroney (violin, ukuleles, guitars, foot-operated cowbell) and Brad Wood (bass, hat-box bass-drum and vocals) and Sebastian Sheehan (percussion).

The first volume of his memoirs, "Here Comes Everybody" will be published by Faber and Faber in the summer of 2011.