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James Arthur Griffin was born in Cincinnati on Aug. 10, 1943, but moved to Memphis with his family soon after. When he was 7, his mother started him on accordion lessons at the Central Academy of Music. He developed musical talents and performed locally until graduation from Kingsbury High School in 1962. Living across the street from Griffin and serving as musical inspiration were brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette.

Griffin's first album, Summer Holiday, a collection of cover tunes, was released in 1963. Producer Jimmy Bowen chose the Cliff Richard song - also a movie - as the title track. The album featured Leon Russell on piano, guitarist Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine on drums. The album cover also featured Griffin's first wife in a cameo role.

Griffin also studied acting as an "artist-in-development" at MGM studios. He appeared in For "Those Who Think Young" in 1963 and "None But The Brave" in 1964. "I got killed on page 42!," Griffin joked about the latter role.

James still had a solo recording deal by 1968 but he and Robb Royer joined David Gates and Jim Gordon to form Bread to combine singing, songwriting and instrumental talents. "I was so tired of getting my songs recorded by other people who would miss the point or change the hooks or tempo," Griffin said. The following year, the group's debut single, Make It With You, went to 1. Subsequent hits included It Don't Matter to Me, If, Baby I'm-a Want You, Everything I Own, The Guitar Man, Aubrey and Lost Without Your Love. James also wrote Bread tunes Truckin, Too Much Love, Any Way You Want Me and Could I.

In 1970, (under the pseudonym Arthur James), James also found time to collaborate with Royer on the song "For All We Know" for the film "Lovers and Other Strangers" - a song which ended up winning an Academy Award for Best Song and went on to become a number three hit for the Carpenters.

Griffin and Royer also wrote tunes such as Radio Dixie, Slow Train, Preacher On The Air, Pair Of 8's, Two Hearts Working Overtime, Shango and Share This Love.

Griffin reverted to a solo career after strains between him and Gates caused the demise of Bread. Griffin left the band in 1973. Though Griffin wrote and sang lead on half of Bread's songs, his works were elbowed out by Gates' compositions when it came time to choose singles.

So Griffin released a solo album, "Breakin' Up Is Easy" on Polydor Records in 1974, credited to "James Griffin & Co." Neither the album nor the singles, "Breakin' Up Is Easy," "She Knows," and "How Do You Say Goodbye," made the Billboard charts.

James rejoined Bread in 1976 for the "Lost Without Your Love" album. Then the group disbanded in a swirl of rancour and lawsuits. Though Griffin, Gates, Michael Botts and Larry Knechtel were the key members of Bread, Gates began touring as "David Gates & Bread". Thus tensions arose between Griffin and Gates and lawsuits were filed.

Polydor released the album "James Griffin" In Europe in 1978 and Memphis label Shoe Records issued several of his singles.

Griffin also recorded an album in Memphis in 1981 with Terry Sylvester (formerly of the Hollies) as Griffin Sylvester. ''He had an amazing voice, and never lost a bit of quality,'' said Sylvester. ''We played some shows with John Ford Coley a couple of years ago, and he was still singing so high. He was in his late 50s and he still had the girls going nuts for him. I couldn't compete.'' ''He had such a soft sound,'' said Coley, a friend who often performed with Griffin. ''Jimmy could have looked at you and said, 'I hate your guts,' and it would have sounded like, 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.' And he wasn't your typical road musician who went wild and crazy. Jimmy was kind of quiet. He sang a lot of harmony and played great guitar. He was just easy.''

In the late '80s, Griffin teamed up with Randy Meisner (Eagles and Poco) and Billy Swan to form "Black Tie", - a country music trio. They released a wonderful album, "When The Night Falls", co-produced by T-Bone Burnett. Their only charted single - "Learning the Game", written by Buddy Holly - came out in 1990 and hit 59 on the country charts. But Griffin and Meisner wrote several songs including, "You're My Life".

In 1991, Griffin and Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey from the group Cymarron formed the Remingtons. The Remingtons recorded two albums on Nashville, Tennessee-based BNA Records. Their debut album, Blue Frontier, produced three singles, including "A Long Time Ago", which reached Top 10. After their last single in 1993, the Remingtons disbanded and Griffin continued to perform solo.

Griffin also earned hits as a songwriter with Conway Twitty on "Who's Gonna Know" and Restless Heart with the BMI award winning "You Can Depend On Me".

''His musicality was strong, but his voice was always the star in that package,'' said Nashville singer-songwriter Bill Lloyd, a label-mate of Griffin and The Remingtons. ''He played guitar, of course, but I was knocked out by a piano song he was working on that he played me in the studio while we were writing. A real nice human being, to boot.''

In 1996, having settled their differences, Gates, Griffin, Botts and Knechtel reunited Bread for a very successful "25th Anniversary" tour of the United States, South Africa, Europe and Asia. Rumors of new releases, a live CD and DVD never came to pass.

Griffin made occasional solo performances throughout the '90s and into the new century but mainly devoted himself to songwriting.

He wrote several tunes including "Take The Easy Way Out" and "You'll Never Leave My Heart" with hit writer Kostas.

GYG was released in January, 2005. It contained original songs by Jimmy, Rick Yancey, Ronnie Guilbeau, including Jimmy's "Who's Gonna Know". The CD was a bittersweet accomplishment, due to Jimmy Griffin’s untimely passing, as momentum was building in Nashville for the band. This CD was Jimmy Griffin’s final musical statement.

However, he did his last studio work, pairing up with singer Lynn Bryant to record Todd Rundgren's pop classic, Can We Still Be Friends.

Griffin died of complications from cancer on January 11, 2005 at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 61 and had been undergoing treatment for several months. He was survived by his wife Marti, daughters Katy and Alexis, sons Jamey and Jacob and granddaughter Lilli.

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