With songs that range from the rock infused "Aint Gonna Stop" to poignant ballads like "I Don't Want to Wish I Had" and "For You" and even love songs that have a passionate soulfulness that most artists only dream of such as "Just Got Started Loving You" and his newest single "Since You Brought It Up", James Otto has made Nashville stand up and take notice.
Born on July 29, 1973 at the Fort Lewis Army Base, Otto spent his childhood moving around the country spending time in Washington state, North Dakota and Alabama. Even from a young age he loved music and by the time he was three he was already making home made recordings on a record player that had a mic.
He added to his musical experience by learning to play both the violin and the saxophone before he got his first guitar on his thirteeth birthday. Music was a family affair at the Otto house as his father played in local rock and blues bands and his grandfather was a self-taught country musician. After highschool James followed in his father's militay footsteps when he joined the US Navy and served two years on the USS Haliakala and the USS White Plains.
Days of Our Lives and the MuzikMafia
Otto moved to Nashville in 1998 and made his rounds for a few years, playing at songwriting nights at local clubs. In 2002 he signed with Mercury Nashville Records and recorded his first album "Days of Our Lives" soon after. The album contained four singles, "The Ball", "Long Way Down", "Days of Our Lives" and "Sunday Morning and Saturday Night".
After the limited success of the record, James left Mercury. During this time he joined the MuzikMafia, a high-energy group of musicians and songwriters that was founded by Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Cory Geirman and Jon Nicholson. While touring with the group, he continued writing and some of his songs even made it onto other artists' albums, like Randy Travis' "Song of the Violin", John Anderson's "Easy Money" and Gary Nichols' "I Can't Love You Anymore". As a member, he was a regular on the CMT reality show MuzikMafia TV and Nashville's major labels took notice.
Road House 2: Last Call
James Otto made his acting debut in 2006 playing the House Band in Scott Ziehl's sequel to the 80s classic Road House, an experience that he loved. His only regret about the film is that he didn't get to break up any bar fights, as his former job as a bouncer would have come in handy.
Sunset Man
He signed with Warner Bros. Records Nashville in mid-2007 and began recording his second album, Sunset Man, which was co-produced by Big & Rich's John Rich and Rascal Flatts' Jay DeMarcus(who also happens to James' brother-in-law). He co wrote nine of the eleven tracks on the album including the lead of single "Just Got Started Loving You", a passion filled love song which flew up the Billboard charts, peaking at number one only one month after it was released.
On the success of that song and the other two singles "These Are the Good Ole Days" and "For You", Sunset Man went all the way to number two on the Top Country Albums chart. It was during this time that he was also co-writing Jamey Johnson's single "In Color" which went on to be nominated for a Grammy and win the ACM award for Song of the Year.
James Otto's Self-Titled Album
Set to be released on February 16, 2010, "James Otto", was co-produced by Grammy award winning producer Paul Worley (who is responsible for signing him to Warner Bros. Nashville)and Otto himself. The first single from the album, "Since You Broght It Up" is already burning up the charts. Co-written by Otto, Rivers Rutherford and Dave Berg, "Since You Brought It Up" tells the story of a couple's romantic evening at home.
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