As a member of Friends Again and Love and Money, James helped to establish Glasgow, Scotland, as a wellspring for brainy, soulful pop in the '80s. In 1982, he joined Friends Again a punchy new wave outfit who crossed Aztec Camera's jangly riffs with David Bowie's stabs at funk. Friends Again released one LP, Trapped and Unwrapped, in 1984 before Grant left the group to exhibit his own talent for songwriting. In 1985, he formed Love and Money, a band who initially clung to a jazzy, more rock-oriented sound. Love and Money recorded their first album, All You Need Is, in 1986; however, the LP did not fulfill the commercial expectations caused by the success of the single "Candybar Express." Love and Money's second album, Strange Kind of Love, sold 250,000 copies, but Grant's creative vision became increasingly incompatible with the corporate needs of the group's label, Phonogram. He battled with Phonogram over the artistic direction of Love and Money's third album, Dogs in the Traffic, in 1991. The LP sold only 25,000 copies, and when the label saw no sales potential in 1994's Littledeath, they dropped the band. The group split up soon thereafter. On Love and Money's later work, He began venturing into country, a genre that he continued to explore in his solo career. In 2000, he released Sawdust in My Veins to widespread critical acclaim, followed by three more albums, Holy Love, My Thrawn Glory, and Strange Flowers.
Love and Money reformed in 2011 for a 'one-off' Celtic Connections show and released their fifth album The Devil's Debt in 2012.
James Grant has performed or toured with artists as diverse as U2, Nanci Griffiths, Tina Turner, and BB King and appeared on TV shows such as Top of the Pops, The Tube, The Transatlantic Sessions and even Wogan! He continues to live in Glasgow, support Celtic, write and perform.
