James David Catto (born 14 August 1968 in London, England) is a British musician, video director, photographer, and

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...

. He was a founding member of

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

, before leaving in 1999 to form

1 Giant Leap 1 Giant Leap is a British electronic music duo consisting of the two principal artists, Jamie Catto (Faithless founding member) and Duncan Bridgeman. Career Based in the UK, the two musicians set out to create a multimedia project that would ...

Career

Faithless

Educated at

Arnold House School Arnold House School is a Preparatory school (United Kingdom), preparatory school for boys in the St John's Wood district of Westminster, Greater London. It consists of a Junior School (Years 1–4) and Senior School (Years 5–8). History Arnol ...

St. John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Catto became a founding member of Faithless, and was the one of two vocalists (along with

Maxi Jazz Maxwell Alexander Fraser (14 June 1957 – 23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 ...

), art director and video director of the band. He performed lead vocals on the Top 40 hit "Don't Leave", released in March 1996. His last album with Faithless was their second record, ''

Sunday 8PM ''Sunday 8PM'' is the second album by English electronic music group Faithless, released on 28 September 1998. The album contains the hit singles "Bring My Family Back", "Take the Long Way Home", and "God Is a DJ". The album reached number 10 on ...

''.

1 Giant Leap

After leaving Faithless, Catto formed 1 Giant Leap with Duncan Bridgeman, touring areas including

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, South Africa,

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, India,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, Australia, New Zealand,

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and Europe, with a digital

video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos, as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film. Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...

, a laptop and a stated intention to explore 'The Unity in the Diversity'. They released their first album in 2002. It was nominated for two

Grammys The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 2003 and sold around 300,000 copies. The band collaborated with figures including

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang (stylised in all lowercase), is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical pe ...

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (July 22, 1932 – February 9, 2025) was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). Robbins had lived in La Conner, Washington, since 1970, where he wrote nine of his ...

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and Jacob Singer in '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), as well as winning an Academy ...

Daniel Lanois Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Harold Budd ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

, J. P. Donleavy,

Naomi Klein Naomi Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses; support of ecofeminism, organized labour, and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism and Criticism of capitalism, ca ...

, Oumou Sangare,

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, musician, television presenter, artist and retired stand-up comedian. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his idiosyncratic and of ...

Baaba Maal Baaba Maal (, born 13 June 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July ...

, Rokia Traore,

DBC Pierre Peter Warren Finlay (born in 1961), also known as DBC Pierre, is an Australian author who wrote the novel '' Vernon God Little''. Pierre was born in South Australia, and largely raised in Mexico. He has resided in the Republic of Ireland and ...

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

Lila Downs Ana Lila Downs Sánchez (born 9 September 1968 * *) is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She performs her own compositions and the works of others in multiple genres, as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music. She also incorporat ...

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...

, Neale Walsch,

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

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Hariprasad Chaurasia Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian music director and classical flautist, who plays the bansuri, in the Hindustani classical tradition. Early life Chaurasia was born in Allahabad (1938) (present day Prayagraj) in the Indian ...

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

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, and

Michael Franti Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper. Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnig ...

Later work

In 2004,

Simon Fuller Simon Robert Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols (franchise), ''Idols'' TV format, including the British series ''Pop Idol'' and the American ser ...

and

19 Entertainment 19 Entertainment Inc. is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music owned by Sony Pictures Television through its nonfiction division. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced '' Pop Ido ...

backed the production of the second 1 Giant Leap film, TV series and CD, '' What About Me?''. The project was released on DVD in June 2008 in the UK and won the Grand Jury Best Documentary at the

Red Rock Film Festival Red Rock Film Festival is an international film festival in Southern Utah in the United States. Held annually in November, in St. George, Ivins, and Springdale by Zion National Park, the festival introduces the area to new international and US ...

at the first screening in America at the end of 2008. The film has received critical acclaim and additional screenings, including a special screening at the DocMiami International Film Festival in 2010. Catto and Bridgeman travelled to 50 countries and five continents recording music and interviews. The documentary features

Zap Mama Zap Mama is a Belgian singer-songwriter, performer, composer, lyricist, activist, video artist and ethno-vocal therapist born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raised in Belgium. Zap Mama sings polyphonic and afro-pop music, a harmonic music ...

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, Neale Walsch,

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, Love has had a career spanning four decades. She rose to promi ...

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, Bhagavan Das,

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, Oumou Sangare, Rokia Traore,

Eckhart Tolle Eckhart Tolle ( ; ; born Ulrich Leonard Tölle, 16 February 1948) is a German-born spiritual teacher and self-help author. His books include ''The Power of Now, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment'' (1997), ''A New Earth, A New ...

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, Ramata Diakite, and others. In 2011, Catto began teaching creative workshops such as What About You? - 'bring your dream project into the world' which had a strong self-development component and then developed them into playful and inspiring shadow-work experiences such as 'Transforming Shadows 'turn your demons into employees' and Insanely Gifted 'open the channel straight to flow-state'. He wrote a bestselling book in 2017 called ''Insanely Gifted - Turn Your Demons into Creative Rocket Fuel'' which was published by Canongate. In 2019, Catto produced and directed his most recent film ''Becoming Nobody'', a tribute to the spiritual teacher

(aka Dr Richard Alpert) which received global acclaim and topped the charts on the

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

online platform and Amazon Prime. He also composed the music for the film with Alex Forster especially drawing from his meditation album ''Internal - Music for Dissolving''. In 2020, Catto was a contributing key note speaker on The Human Potential Series: ''Transforming Uncertainty into Action''. The speaker series included writers

, A. H. Almaas and

Charles Eisenstein Charles Eisenstein (born 1967) is an American public speaker, author, and activist. His books include ''The Ascent of Humanity'', ''Sacred Economics'', and ''The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.'' Eisenstein's work covers a wid ...

, and focused on offering practical and spiritual support for people during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He is currently living in Oxford running his teacher-training 'Bring It!' and his other workshops from his home and in development on his new film ''Adam and Eve - Healing the Primary Wound of the Planet''.

Career

Faithless

1 Giant Leap

Later work

References

External links