I was a council estate kid who quit school with no GCSEs to work in a slaughterhouse – now I run a music empire
A MAN who grew up on a council estate and left school with no GCSEs has revealed how he's since built an entertainment empire and now works with some of the biggest names in music.
James Dean, 39, from Bretby, Burton Upon Trent, left school at the age of 16 as a self-confessed "rebel" with a passion for music.
Fast forward 23 years, he's now founded or been at the heart of a whopping 21 music festivals and has booked some of the biggest acts in the music industry - including Steps, S Club 7, UB40, Boyzlife, and Example.
But it hasn't always been an easy road for music fanatic James, who had a "tough" childhood growing up.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous Digital, he explains: "We had little to no money for food.
"My mum had three jobs...this experience was absolutely the driver for me to turn life around for me and my family."
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James, who has ADHD and says he was "misunderstood" lot of the time, left school without any GCSES at 16.
"I wasn’t the worst kid in the class but I was very disruptive," he admits.
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"When I had my adult ADHD diagnosis and look back on my school reports, I can see a lot of my short attention span was because of the Attention Deficit Disorder and not because I was a naughty kid.
"I started skipping school to go to work and wash cars so we could have food and nice things."
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Over the years, James, who has a daughter named Reeva, took on whatever job he could to make ends meet.
"I worked in a slaughterhouse sweeping up," he says.
"I was also a block paver, a welder, a car cleaner, a fabricator - literally anyone that would take me I would give whatever it was they needed doing a go."
But deep down, the 39-year-old always knew that he wanted to work in the music industry.
"From the age of eight I remember the feeling music gave me," he recalls.
"Music has this fantastic ability to take you to places and lift your mood and to this day I listen to music every day.
"Once I realised I could play music and get paid for it, with the help of my granddad, I cobbled together a ropy disco set up and started doing school and Scouts discos and the odd birthday party.
"I then started work at a nightclub at age 14 collecting glasses and stayed there for 15 years working my way up to being the Managing Director.
I wasn’t the worst kid in the class but I was very disruptive
James Dean
"I loved music so much I asked Our Price records to give me a job and they wouldn’t, so I told them I would volunteer.
"So I volunteered during the week for Our Price records, in the evenings I worked for another record shop called Icon Records and then at the weekend I collected glasses at the club so I could listen to the DJs.
"Sleep was non-existent in those days but I loved every second of it."
Eager to get his big break, James, who has now been a DJ for 27 years and even owns his own helicopter, sent out thousands of mix tapes and gave DJs his tapes and CDs.
But when that big break never came, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
"I put on my own parties in a pub car park," he explains.
"Fast forward five years and many small shows later, I quickly realised I needed some form of qualification to host bigger events.
"So after leaving school early, I decided to go back and I studied a degree in Festival Management and Hospitality at Loughborough University."
Then, in 2012, James put his first festival together.
"It was a small dance festival called Xstatic Summer Festival," he explains.
"That then progressed into 16 festivals across the UK and Europe - and I was booking everyone from Calvin Harris to Bootleg Beatles and Monster Trucks!"
Now, James works on a number of events up and down the country and has booked some of the best music acts including S Club 7 and Steps.
I started skipping school to go to work and wash cars so we could have food and nice things
James Dean
"We work on a number of events but the next ones are (22 - 25 June) and Back 2 Festival (29 June - 2 July), both in Catton Park in Derby," he says.
" - the biggest and most nostalgic trip down memory lane - will see Boyzlife, Example and Basshunter take to the stage so you can live out your best early Noughties life."
James, who claims he was once told by a teacher he would "equate to nothing," has since seen his success go from strength to strength.
Not only did he get his helicopter license aged 29, but he's also gone on to open a restaurant and build up quite the impressive property development portfolio.
Speaking of his pinch-me moments, he says: "The day I passed my helicopter exam is one, but there's no better feeling than standing on stage in front of tens of thousands of people and seeing them all happy because of what you have created.
"I also love being a property developer and I think it was after my 20th renovation that I decided to buy myself my dream car (Audi R8) but if I'm honest, I got bored of it after four weeks!
"Finally when we opened our first restaurant, Ice and Slice in Derbyshire - I absolutely loved that day."
But that doesn't mean to say there's not been any setbacks along the way.
"Learning how to produce successive, successful events has taken a few years," James admits.
"The 2008 recession, the smoking ban, the over-saturated festival and event industry, the government forcing festival companies to use white diesel instead of red diesel, artists charging over-inflated fees, Covid, Covid, Covid and Covid and now the cost of living crisis.
"The list really does go on.
"For anyone looking outside in, you would have to be crazy to want to start any business right now let alone have six companies!"
While James admits "there wasn’t really anything anyone could do" to stop him leaving school at 16, he's living proof that you can achieve anything if you really put your mind to it.
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"I have a fantastic relationship with my family," says James.
"I think I’ve proven to them that the decisions I made then [aged 16] were the right ones at the time and hopefully I’ve made them proud!"
