Neo-blues & soul singer Rory Graham was born and raised in the small town of Uckfield in the south-east of England.

Growing up on early blues and soul, he taught himself to sing by mimicking Muddy Waters, before discovering hip-hop. Starting out in music at age 15 as an MC with a local drum'n'bass crew, he progressed to hip-hop open-mike nights in nearby Brighton, where he later moved, teaming up with local hip-hop crew the Rum Committee. At the same time, he continued to practice singing in private. Aged 19, he took part in a blues open-mike night at the encouragement of his father, and the rapturous response to his singing boosted his confidence enough to make him consider it as a career rather than rapping.

Graham’s moniker came from his childhood memories of he and his grandfather watching repeats of the British ‘60s sitcom Steptoe and Son, about a pair of rag-and-bone men – dirt-poor street collectors who in bygone days would go around gathering up rubbish in an attempt to find useful rags, bones, and scrap metal that could be sold to merchants for a few pennies.

He released his debut EP, Bluestown, in 2012, followed by several EPs in the next few years, the highest profile of which were Wolves and Disfigured in 2015. His early releases were more acoustic, but evolved toward a more electronic sound with hip-hop-styled beats. In 2013, he signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell, allowing him to give up his day job as a carer for people with Asperger’s Syndrome. His increasing profile brought him to the attention of Columbia Records, who signed him in 2016. His debut single for Columbia, “Human,” dropped in September of that year and was a big hit in several European countries, topping the charts in Germany. The single was taken from his debut album, which released the following year.

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