Iain James

For those of the same or similar name, see Ian James (disambiguation).

Iain James Farquharson (born 20 February 1980), more commonly known as Iain James or Sparx, is a British singer, songwriter and vocal producer from Bristol, but based in London. He started as part of the British boyband Triple 8 in 2003 as their lead singer and known as Sparx. He left after the group had two Top 10 hits and was replaced by Stewart Macintosh in 2005.

Iain James
Birth name	Iain James Farquharson
Born	(1980-02-20) 20 February 1980 (age 44) Bristol, England
Years active	2003–present
Formerly of	Triple 8

He has written a number of songs recorded by a great number of singing artists, plus writing many songs for reality television contestants from UK, Europe and Asia, and on three occasions for Eurovision Song Contest songs, including co-writing the winning song for Azerbaijan "Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki in 2011.

Triple 8

James was the lead singer of UK boy band Triple 8 (888) signed to Polydor records.^[1] He was known by his nickname "Sparx". The group had two successful singles: "Knockout" and "Give Me A Reason", which charted at numbers 8 and 9 respectively in the UK Singles Chart. The group parted company with their record label in 2004, leaving their album, Heavy W8, unreleased. James left in 2004, to be replaced as lead singer in 2005 by a new member Stewart Macintosh. before breaking up by the end of 2005.

Writing and production

After Triple 8, James concentrated on music writing and production. He has written for artists as diverse as Westlife, Professor Green,^[1] Emeli Sandé, Craig David,^[1] Taio Cruz, The Vamps, Anne-Marie, and Korean boyband TVXQ (aka Tohoshinki). He has also written for successful acts from reality television competitions, including Little Mix,^[2] One Direction,^[1] Olly Murs and Leona Lewis.

He co-wrote British number one "Read All About It" by Professor Green featuring Emeli Sandé, as well as Sandé's own version of the song which appears on her two million selling album Our Version of Events, which broke a record set by the Beatles for longest unimpeded spell in the UK top 10.

James wrote several songs on the album of Little Mix, the first ever British girlgroup whose album went straight into the top 5 in the US, including the UK Number 1 "Wings" and the critically lauded third place song "DNA".He wrote songs on their second album Salute, which did not match DNA commercially, but was a critical success, and followed its predecessor in charting in the UK top 5 and US top 10 (it would have repeated DNA's fourth placing if compilations were not included in the US albums chart). He wrote the album's song Little Me with Little Mix and TMS. For the group's third album Get Weird; Iain co-wrote the singles "Love Me Like You" and "Hair" feat. Sean Paul. The group's most successful album Glory Days features the single "Shout Out To My Ex", also co-written by James.

He is also a vocal producer and has recorded many artists including Little Mix, Ella Henderson, One Direction and Pixie Lott.

Eurovision

James co-wrote the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winning song "Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki,^[1][3] who were the first male-female duo to win the song contest since 1963. They were also the first Azeris to win the contest, winning in Düsseldorf in May 2011.

James also co-wrote the Belgian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, "Love Kills" by Roberto Bellarosa, which placed 12th, and the British entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, "My Last Breath" by James Newman.

Discography

Year	Title	Artist	Album	Credits
2007	Officially Yours	Craig David	Trust Me	Co-Writer
2008	You're My Idol	Donnie Klang	Just A Rolling Stone	Co-Writer
	Wrong Number	TVXQ	MIROTIC - The 4th Album	Co-Writer
2010	Did I?	Diagram Of The Heart	N/A	Co-Writer
2011	Build You A House	Timothy James	Make It Happen	Co-Writer
	The Sound Of Swing ft. Aloe Blacc	The Kenneth Bager Experience	The Sound Of...	Co-Writer
	Fell In Love With A Song	Blush	Make You Blush	Co-Writer
	Second Last Chance	The Overtones	Good Ol' Fashioned Love (Platinum Edition)	Co-Writer
	Running Scared	Ell & Nikki	N/A	Co-Writer
	Na Na Na	One Direction	Up All Night	Co-Writer
	Read All About It feat. Emeli Sandé	Professor Green	At Your Inconvenience	Co-Writer
	World In Our Hands	Taio Cruz	Ty.O	Co-Writer
	Hush Little Baby feat. Ed Sheeran	Wretch 32	Black & White	Co-Writer
	Walking On Water	Matt Cardle	Letters	Co-Writer
2012	Wings	Little Mix	DNA	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	DNA
	Going Nowhere
	Make You Believe
	Madhouse
	Stereo Soldier
	Always Be Together			Vocal Producer
	Read All About It (Part III)	Emeli Sandé	Our Version Of Events	Co-Writer
	Hand On Heart	Olly Murs	Right Place Right Time	Co-Writer
	Overtime feat. Ghetts	Clement Marfo & The Frontline	N/A	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Champion
	I Need You feat. Jagga	TMS	N/A	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
2013	Heartless	A*M*E	N/A	Co-Writer
	Beethoven	Union J	Union J	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Stereotype	Samsaya	Bombay Calling	Co-Writer
	Summer Rain	Chris Medina	What Are Words	Co-Writer
	Little Me	Little Mix	Salute	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Competition
	A Different Beat
	See Me Now
	They Just Don't Know You
	Mr Loverboy			Vocal Producer
	Love Kills	Roberto Bellarosa	Ma Voie	Co-Writer
	Just The Way You Love Me	Shane Filan	You & Me	Co-Writer
	One More Sleep	Leona Lewis	Christmas, With Love	Co-Writer
	Going Under	Michael Paynter	Weary Love	Co-Writer
2014	Nothing Without You	Olly Murs	Never Been Better	Co-Writer
	The First Time	Ella Henderson	Chapter One	Vocal Producer
	Give Your Heart Away
2015	Left Out	LEGEND	N/A	Co-Writer
	She Ain't Me	Sinead Harnett	N/A	Co-Writer
	Cry For Help	HomeTown	HomeTown	Co-Writer
	Me 4 U	OMI	Me 4 U	Co-Writer
	Trouble	Major Myjah	Trouble	Co-Writer
	Start Again	Ben Haenow	Ben Haenow	Co-Writer
	Breakfast	Fleur East	Love, Sax and Flashbacks	Co-Writer
	Love Me Like You	Little Mix	Get Weird	Co-Writer
	The Fall	Markus Feehily	Fire	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
2016	Gets No Better (2.0) feat. Serayah	Empire Cast	Empire: Original Soundtrack Season 2	Co-Writer
	Hair feat. Sean Paul	Little Mix	Get Weird	Co-Writer
	Shout Out To My Ex		Glory Days	Co-Writer
	Beep Beep			Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Good Things Come To Those Who Wait	Nathan Sykes	Unfinished Business	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Hurt Anymore	Samantha Jade & Cyrus	TBA	Co-Writer
2017	Unpredictable	Olly Murs & Louisa Johnson	24 HRS	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Giants	Lights	Skin & Earth	Co-Writer
	Heavy	Anne-Marie	Speak Your Mind	Co-Writer
	The Thing About Love	Matt Terry	Trouble	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
2018	Start Over Again	New Hope Club	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	Monday Blues	Exo-CBX	Blooming Days	Co-Writer
	Just My Type	The Vamps	Night & Day (Day Edition)	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Friends	Why Don't We	8 Letters	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Take Your Love	Olly Murs	You Know I Know	Co-Writer
	여기 있을게 (Smile On My Face)	Exo	Don't Mess Up My Tempo	Co-Writer
2019	Girl	Rak-Su	-	Co-Writer
	Pablo	Big Heath	-	Co-Writer
2020	Small Talk	Louise	Heavy Love	Co-Writer
	Give You Up			Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Father's Son	Declan J Donovan	Homesick	Co-Writer
	Habit	Louis Tomlinson	Walls	Co-Writer
	Vibe	Mullally	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	My Last Breath	James Newman	The Things We Do	Co-Writer / Backing Vocals
	Look What We've Done	New Rules	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	After The Night Before	Molly Hocking	TBA	Co-Writer
	Christmas Prayer	Paloma Faith & Gregory Porter	Infinite Things	Co-Writer
2021	Feels Like Love	Syn Cole ft. MIYA MIYA	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	Vibe	Matt Hunter	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	Superstar	SHINee	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	Can't Stop Writing Songs About You	Kylie Minogue and Gloria Gaynor	Disco: Guest List Edition	Co-Writer
	Kiss Me It's Christmas	Leona Lewis & Ne-Yo	Christmas, With Love Always	Co-Writer
	Day One	JLS	2.0	Co-Writer / Vocal Producer / Backing Vocals
	Tango
	Postcard			Vocal Producer
	Priceless
	Changed
	Audition
	Love Immortal
	Glow
	Nothing Without U
	Secrets	Monsta X	The Dreaming	Co-Writer
	Woman	Leigh-Anne Pinnock	Boxing Day (Soundtrack)	Co-Writer
2022	Happy	Josef Salvat	Islands	Co-Writer
	1, 2, 7 (Time Stops)	NCT 127	2 Baddies - The 4th Album	Co-Writer
	Pasta	New Rules	Go The Distance	Co-Writer
	Seat At The Table	The Vamps	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	Love Me Hard	Sugababes	The Lost Tapes	Co-Writer
	No Regrets
	I'm Alright
2023	Single	Lou Elliotte	TBA	Co-Writer
	Put Your Hands Up	Marvin Humes	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	The Birds	Bank & Ranx feat. Zach Zoya	Non Album Single	Co-Writer
	I Am	Now United	The Musical: Welcome To The Night Of Your Life	Co-Writer
	When The Rain Comes	Sugababes	TBA	Co-Writer
	Can't Say Goodbye	KEY	Good & Great - The 2nd Mini Album	Co-Writer
2024	Downtime	Tyler Lewis	TBA	Co-Writer

With Triple 8

Year	Single	Chart positions
		UK
2003	"Knockout"	8
	"Give Me a Reason"	9

References

1. "UK is Eurovision winner after all". M Magazine (Performing Rights Society). 19 May 2011.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "Little Mix are making "magic" today". Popjustice. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
3. "Ell/Nikki – Running Scared". Eurovision official website. Retrieved 6 June 2012.

External links

• Discogs.com Iain James Farquharson page