Fans were won over easily by Jamie Cullum as he takes a love for jazz and freshens the genre with influences of other genres. Cullum was born in Essex, England and grew up in Wiltshire. Music was a part of his life from a young age and started playing piano at the age of eight. Jazz hit him hard as a teenager when he discovered greats like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis. His brother also helped throw in influences by Steely Dan. He got more serious about a career in music while he was at college and started playing gigs ranging from pubs to cruise ships.After earning his degree, he released his first album, Heard It All Before, when he was 19. The album gained him a following and led to an invitation to play on the Songs of the Summer album of Geoff Gascoyne, a jazz bassist. Energized, Cullum released his follow up in 2002 called Pointless Nostalgic. He was gaining popularity in his home country and soon secured a deal with Universal Records. He released Twentysomething in 2004, which peaked at number 83 on the Billboard 200 and marked his surge of popularity in the United States. The album sold more than two million copies.He followed that album with Catching Tales the next year. Catching Tales was even more successful than its predecessor, reaching number one on the Top Contemporary Jazz charts and number 49 on the Billboard 200. He put more of himself into this album, writing or co-writing ten out of the 14 tracks. He showed that he can also bring a unique take to other writer's work by releasing the mixtape/compilation In the Mind of Jamie Cullum in 2007. He will surely be changing jazz again with his next album, so this young artist is worth keeping an eye on.