Jamie Scallion (born 1 November 1978) is a British singer, songwriter, screenwriter and author. Best known for being the lead singer of Officer Kicks and the writer of '' The Rock 'n' Roll Diaries''.

Early life

Scallion grew up in Greenwich, South East London and as the lead singer of the cult London rock band Officer Kicks played and recorded for over ten years, touring with some of the biggest names in the music industry.

Officer Kicks

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...

gave the band its first break after he heard an early demo in 2001. They went on to record their debut album at his residential studio in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, Wheeler End. They toured with bands including

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums, including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to d ...

, Jack Penate,

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

The Hoosiers The Hoosiers are an English pop rock band who were originally formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The band consists of members Irwin Sparkes (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Alan Sharland (drums, percussion, vocals). Their first ...

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress, singer and musician. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark plots, themes and settings. Lewis gained prominence in American cinema during t ...

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions. Each Regular battalion was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the ...

and

The Script The Script are an Irish Soft rock, soft-rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin. The band currently consists of Danny O'Donoghue (lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), Glen Power (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Benjamin Seargent (bass, backin ...

. In 2008, they headlined the Late and Live stage at

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, the

BBC Introducing BBC Music Introducing is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. The backbone of that network consists of 32 BBC local radio shows on stations across England and the Channel Islands, various ...

stage at

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festi ...

and the main stage of the

Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent music festival, arts and music festival held in Abbots Ripton, England. The location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its own lakes, river ...

. They toured extensively after releasing their second album in 2010. Performing over one hundred shows worldwide. Including a UK and Ireland tour with The Script, a European tour with Juliette Lewis and festivals including Peace and Love, Benicassim and

Sonisphere The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It ...

. The band garnered a dedicated live following in the UK and Ireland and were championed and playlisted by the radio station

XFM Radio X is a British national commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. The station launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station named Q102, before being renamed Xfm in 1992. The station b ...

multiple times.

''The Rock 'n' Roll Diaries''

Scallion wrote the first of four instalments of ''The Rock 'n' Roll Diaries'' whilst on tour. The books, based on his experiences in a rock band, have received hundreds of five star reviews on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and each has held the number one spot on the bestseller list. They have been translated into German, Dutch and French. Scallion co-wrote the soundtrack for the novels with the Irish group

. Since being released exclusively on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

the tracks have been streamed over a million times. Scallion narrated the Audiobook versions of the books for

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

. Success and strong sales of the books led to Amazon Publishing make a short documentary about Scallion in 2016.

Literacy work

Scallion has written broadly on the subject of Children's Literacy and in his capacity as an Ambassador for the

National Literacy Trust The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity (registered no. 1116260 in England and Wales and registered no. SCO42944 in Scotland) based in London, England, that promotes literacy. It was founded by Sir Simon Hornby, former chairman of ...

he has co-developed a lyrics based reading initiative that deliverers songwriting workshops into schools nationwide. As well as writing for National newspapers he has written a number of articles for his local paper, the

Cambridge Evening News The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its Milton base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average daily c ...

Songwriting and production

Along with his brother Alexander Wolfe and Ben Roulston, Scallion is one-third of a songwriting/production team, Crush. The group are based in Central London at Dean Street Studios in Soho, and have worked with many artists including

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. In 2012, they rose to prominence when they featured on Disclosure (band), Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch (song), Latch", which peaked at number eleven on ...

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band formed in London in 2007 by lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, drummer Christopher Lloyd Hayden and harp ...

Wolf Alice Wolf Alice are a Rock music, rock band from London. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo made up of singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012. Wolf Alice playe ...

and

Jamie Cullum Jamie Paul Joseph Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He h ...

. They wrote the theme tune for the

Bafta The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award-winning film

Beast Beast most often refers to: * Animal, a multicellular, eukaryotic organism in the biological kingdom Animalia * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation * Monster, a type of creature found in fiction, folklo ...

and the original soundtrack for the TV series Flack starring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner

Anna Paquin Anna Helene Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, she made her acting debut in the romantic drama film ''The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Act ...

. Scallion's music has been featured on TV programmes including

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, Waterloo Road,

Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is a weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening timeslot. It began in 1978 and is currently presented by Ed Leigh an ...

and the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

Education and awards

In November 2019 Scallion graduated with distinction from the MA in creative writing at

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. In the same year Scallion was shortlisted for the prestigious international writing prize: The Bridport Prize.

Family tree

Scallion's great-grandfather is the author

James Louis Garvin James Louis Garvin (12 April 1868 – 23 January 1947) was a British journalist, editor, and author. In 1908, Garvin agreed to take over the editorship of the Sunday newspaper ''The Observer'', revolutionising Sunday journalism and restoring ...

. His grandfather is the French politician Count François de Menthon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scallion, Jamie 1978 births Living people Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University British rock singers British male songwriters Musicians from the Royal Borough of Greenwich 21st-century British singers