James Marriott

James Marriott
Marriott performing in Sheffield, 2025
Background information
Born	James William Marriott (1997-07-07) 7 July 1997 Kilchberg, Zurich, Switzerland
Origin	Buckinghamshire, England
Genres	Indie rock
Occupations	Musician singer songwriter YouTuber
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	2012–present
Label	AWAL
Website	jamesmarriottmusic.com
Twitch information
Channel	jamesmarriott
Years active	2019–2024
Followers	370 thousand
YouTube information
Channel	James Marriott
Subscribers	2.03 million
Views	182.6 million
Last updated: 2 June 2026

James William Marriott (born 7 July 1997) is a Swiss-born English musician and YouTuber. He is best known for his 2025 No. 1 UK-charting album Don't Tell the Dog and 2026 Top 40 single “California Rain”. Earlier, he charted at No. 17 on the UK Albums Chart with Are We There Yet? and No. 67 on the UK singles chart with "I Don't Want to Live Like This".

After uploading videos of his instrumental acoustic music, he attracted attention after diversifying into caustic YouTube commentary videos and Twitch livestreams. He stepped back from YouTube to pursue music full-time, releasing his debut single "Slow Down" in May 2020. This was followed by the extended plays No Left Brain and Bitter Tongues. His debut album Are We There Yet? was released in 2023, and his second album, Don't Tell The Dog, was released in 2025. The album peaked at #1 on the UK Official Albums chart.

Marriott cites Foals and the Strokes as major influences, and his music is generally described as indie rock. In 2025, he founded iced coffee company Rodd's alongside close friend and frequent collaborator WillNE.

James William Marriott¹ was born on 7 July 1997² in Kilchberg, Switzerland,³ but grew up in Buckinghamshire, England.⁴ Marriott was interested in music from a young age and his father was a pianist.⁵ In 2008, he began attending Aylesbury Grammar School,⁶ and uploading animations online; by 2012, he had diversified into uploading videos of his instrumental acoustic work.²⁷ He went on to study modern languages at University College London, spending six months of the course in Granada, Spain, to foster proficiency in Spanish and Portuguese.²

While at university, Marriott attracted attention for his YouTube channel as a commentator on popular culture and music,² for which he attracted more than two million subscribers. In an interview with Dork, he described his content during this period as "taking the piss out of other YouTubers' music".⁵ In 2020, Marriott joined the YouTube group Eboys with YouTubers Memeulous, WillNE, and ImAllexx. They hosted a podcast of the same name,⁸ and Marriott later gained a following as a live streamer on Twitch.⁵⁹

Marriott released his first single, the yacht rock-inspired "Slow Down", in May 2020,² though he later expressed his disdain for the song.⁵ He then released the single "Him", which appeared on his January 2021 extended play (EP) No Left Brain,¹⁰ which was more guitar-based.² In July 2021, Marriott released the single "Wake Up!", which GoldenPlec described as a combination of "angsty alt-rock" and indie rock,¹¹. In 2022 he released the single "Grapes", a take on developing into young adulthood,¹² and then his second EP, Bitter Tongues.⁵ The EP depicts his experiences with heartbreak, sexuality, love, and his creative persona on social media.¹³

In March 2023, Marriott announced his debut album Are We There Yet? after a show at The Leadmill in Sheffield.⁹ Marriott joined several artists as supporting acts that year, including Jake Bugg in his Royal Albert Hall performance¹⁴ for the Teenage Cancer Trust,¹⁵ and Lovejoy on tour.¹⁶ That May, he performed at Brighton's annual Great Escape Festival,²⁵. It was announced that he would support Lewis Capaldi in an acoustic set in June 2023,¹⁷¹⁸ though Capaldi later cancelled the gig due to poor mental health.¹⁹ Marriott then released the singles "So Long" and "Romanticise This", the latter a deeply personal track about suicidal ideation.⁵ At the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August,²⁰²¹ Marriott debuted "Don't Blame Me", which was released as an official single in October 2023.²²

Marriott released Are We There Yet?,¹⁴ named after a regular utterance of his during family road trips and which narrates a hypothetical return to Spain.²³ The album was produced and written in close collaboration with Marriott's guitarist and keyboardist Jono Suter, as well as Aleksi Kiiskinen.⁷²⁴ Are We There Yet? charted at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart and number 2 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.²⁵ That year, Marriott performed his first Australian shows in Sydney and Melbourne²⁶ and announced dates for a UK and European tour.²⁷

In February 2024, Marriott was announced to be playing at the annual Reading and Leeds Festivals on the BBC Radio 1 stage,²⁸ as well as performing on the Big Top stage at the Isle of Wight Festival later in June 2024.²⁹ A concert at Leeds Festival in August 2024 had to be cancelled on safety grounds due to Storm Lilian, following which Marriott was criticised for charging fans for a replacement gig at The Wardrobe in Leeds city centre.³⁰³¹

Marriott's indie pop single "I Don't Want to Live Like This" charted at number 67 on the UK singles chart in February 2025.²⁵ In March 2025, Marriott stated that the song was the lead single from Don't Tell the Dog, his second album recorded at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate.⁴ That month, he released from the album a second single, "Toothache".³² The third single "It's Only Love" was released the same month, an indie folk track accompanied by a folk horror-inspired music video.³³. "Something's Wrong" was released later that year, accompanied by a music video that featured Marriott's friend and collaborator WillNE. ³⁴ The album Don't Tell the Dog was released in June 2025. The latter took its name from a childhood incident in which the family moved and left their dog behind.³⁵ The album peaked at #1 on the UK Official Albums Chart.³⁶³⁷ In an interview with Billboard, Marriott stated, "Thank you so, so much for my first-ever official No. 1 album. It’s been such an amazing week traveling up and down the country, doing a little show. I’m just mind blown! Thank you so much for supporting me over the last week, and the last few years."³⁶

Marriott began playing the unreleased song "California Rain" live in concerts in late 2025. In January 2026, he released the song as a single.³⁸³⁹ It peaked at 22 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming his first top 40 single.⁴⁰

Marriott initially "fell head over heels in love with music" after attending an ABBA tribute concert with family as a child.⁴¹ His early guitar work was inspired by Rodrigo y Gabriela, a flamenco and metal music duo. Marriott later deemed the guitar in his music as a "priority", and said he often sits down with an Epiphone Casino whenever emotions hit.¹⁴ In an August 2023 interview with Dork, Marriott cited the Strokes, Bloc Party, Foals, and Kelly Clarkson as influences, the latter for her "in your fucking face" vocal production, and stated that many of his inspirations came from video games he played, describing his music as "somewhere between Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock and any FIFA soundtrack between '06 and '13".⁵ He also stated that he likes "having choruses that feel Sam Fender-y",⁴¹ a name that Clash's Robin Murray used to describe his lyricism.¹²

Marriott also cites Jacob Collier as having "an interesting way of writing melodies", and wants crowds at his shows to feel like how he did when seeing Delta Sleep perform "The Detail".⁴² Marriott also noted that a Dodie concert he attended "made [him] fall in love with having a string quartet over indie music".⁴¹ Speaking to the Official Charts Company, Marriott compared his song "Denial" to Biffy Clyro's "Mountains" and The 1975's "Sex."⁴³ For Don't Tell the Dog, Marriott was inspired by the laissez-faire production style of Fizz's The Secret to Life.⁴ James Wilkinson of AllMusic wrote that Marriott produced "Foals- and Strokes-inspired indie rock."²

In May 2025, Marriott co-founded iced coffee company Rodd's with close friend and frequent collaborator Will Lenney.⁴⁴⁴⁵ Advertised as "iced coffee in a bottle that tastes like iced coffee not in a bottle",⁴⁶ the brand debuted exclusively in the United Kingdom at 300 Sainsbury's stores.⁴⁷ The coffee became a massive hit, racking up £3 million in retail sales and six SKUs in its first year.⁴⁷ At launch, the bottles of iced coffee were sold exclusively in major Sainsbury's stores, but later expanded to additional Sainsbury's locations and retailers like Ocado.⁴⁷

• Matt Gavin – lead guitar (2021–present)⁷
• Jono Suter – guitar, keyboard (2021–present)⁷
• Samuel Horsley – bass guitar (2021–present)⁷
• Louis Salanson – guitar, percussion, tracks (2023–present)⁷
• Josh Caplin – drums (2024–present)
• Jago Shakoori – drums (2021⁷–2024)

• Matt Gavin – lead guitar
• Jono Suter – guitar, keyboard, production
• Samuel Horsley – bass guitar ⁷
• Louis Salanson – guitar, percussion ⁷

• Bitter/UK Tour (2023)⁹⁵⁷
• Australia Tour (2023 + 2024)²⁶
• Are We There Yet? Tour (2024)⁵⁸
• Summer '24 Tour (2024)⁵⁹
• US + Canada Tour #1 (2025)
• North America: A James Marriott Tour (2025)
• UK & EU Tour (2025)
• Australia: A James Marriott Tour (2026)