The debut major label release of his self-titled album will arrive on October 9th, on the heels of joining Sheeran on his latest North American tour dates, which includes select stadium shows. Wasn’t Expecting That has already achieved double-platinum sales in Australia following Jamie’s tour with Ed earlier this year, seeing Jamie play to over 185,000 people. Wasn’t Expecting That is exploding at U.S. radio now, hand-picked for iHeart Radio’s “On The Verge” program which launched such hits as Passenger’s Let Her Go and most recently Rachel Platten’s Fight Song. Enigmatic and soulful, Jamie first drew Ed’s attention with an early version of his international juggernaut hit Wasn’t Expecting That, which drew the ginger-haired superstar to tears.

Ed says of the signing: “I first became aware of Jamie Lawson a few years ago, after hearing his track “Wasn’t Expecting That”. I very rarely get emotional over a track, but that song stopped me dead. He manages to put across such raw emotion within his work, and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with this guy in some way. Having decided to start my own label ‘Gingerbread Man Records’ with my label Atlantic Records, the first artist I had to sign was Jamie. Starting Gingerbread Man Records means I can put music I love out there on a huge platform, and Jamie seemed like the perfect choice for my first release”

Jamie originally hails from Plymouth, and his journey can only be explained as an epic one. It took time for him to find his voice, even longer for him to hone his songs in the sparse, poetic language he has made very much his own. Though he has maintained a core, loyal following who have supported him throughout, only now is that starting to blossom into something far bigger. A chance meeting with a young singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran a few years ago, just as he himself had signed to Atlantic, seemed to affect very little at the time.

Jamie has this to say about the meeting: ‘He’d been doing the same circuit and we had mutual friends, so although we hadn’t met before, we’d heard of each other. His songs were great, and he was a nice guy.  We exchanged numbers, but just after that he took off and became massively famous, and I just watched, thinking, “There’s another one gone!”’

A year or so down the line, Ed noticed Jamie’s poster in an Irish pub and remembered their earlier meeting – playing the prestigious Ruby Sessions in Dublin the following week, he asked the promoter to invite Jamie to play too. Subsequently, Jamie has jumped from a few hundred capacity venues to the 10,000 capacity venue in Dublin with Ed, to touring the world with him through the beginning of 2015. Recent months have seen Jamie playing to over 175,000 people in Australia (where Wasn’t Expecting That hit #2 and has subsequently hit double Platinum) and New Zealand.  In the past few weeks he has also supported Ed on his mammoth UK stadium tour, playing two nights with him at Dublin’s Croke Park.

His debut release on Elektra/Gingerbread Man Records was produced by Ed’s longtime collaborator Will Hicks (Lily Allen, Plan B, Bastille) and mixed by Ruadhri Cushnan (Mumford & Sons ‘Babel’, Ed Sheeran ‘+’ & ‘X’). The album reflects a writer and singer who is confidently, comfortably and completely himself.

Full track-listing below:

1. Wasn't Expecting That
2. Someone For Everyone
3. Cold In Ohio
4. The Only Conclusion
5. Still Yours
6. All Is Beauty
7. Don't Let Me Let You Go
8. Ahead Of Myself
9. In Our Own Worlds
10. Sometimes It's Hard
11. Let Love Hold You Now