Retired bus driver Alan Shaw, 61, spoke with The Sun about being blown away three years ago by singing of neighbor James Morrison from the house next door. He went to investigate – and the meeting set James on the road to stardom. The pair became good friends and music lover Alan handed him a Cat Stevens greatest hits album which became his main influence. “I told him he had a lot in common with Cat Stevens,” Shaw said. “He had never really listened to him before, so I gave him a CD of his greatest hits – and now he says Cat is one of his biggest influences. It’s nice to know I played a tiny part in what has happened to him. We’re very proud of him – he really is the most smashing guy.” Read more.

After crashing a few vans he was employed to clean, James Morrison was fired, prompting him to become so depressed he turned to songwriting to channel his woes. “In many ways, getting the bullet was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Morrison told The Sun. “They gave me the boot because I crashed a couple of vans.”

The UK’s hottest new pop act James Morrison was so terrible at music he couldn’t even manage to scrape a lowly E grade, instead getting a U for Ungraded. “James started off well in music,” one of his former school pals told The Sun. “He really enjoyed it at GCSE and was persuaded by his teacher to go on and study it at A-level. It all went downhill pretty quickly after that though. He found it much harder and just couldn’t get his head around the more academic side of music which you can see from his terrible A-level results. Still, it goes to show you don’t have to be an academic talent to be a successful musician.” Read more.