James Andrew Arthur (born 2 March 1988) is a British singer and songwriter who won the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012. His debut single, "Impossible", was released through Syco Music after the final and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release. It has since gone on to sell over 1,289,000 copies in the UK, and 2.5 million copies worldwide. The follow-up single "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" reached number 2 on UK charts. He released his self-titled debut album in November 2013. The album debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart.

After the release of his debut album James Arthur, he was involved in a series of controversies. This led iTunes to offer refunds for the album. The single release "Recovery" made to number 19, while the sales for the fourth single "Get Down" hardly made the top 100. Arthur parted ways with Simon Cowell’s record label Syco in 2014. In 2015, he signed a new deal with Columbia Records to release his second album in 2016, titled Back from the Edge. Arthur was also re-signed to Syco in 2016.