James Arthur: I want to be one of the greats

James Arthur wants to be “one of the greats”.

The 33-year-old singer rose to fame after winning the UK version of ‘The X Factor’ in 2012, and James ultimately dreams of being recognised as a great muian.

He explained: “I’m a really ambitious person and I wasn’t achieving the goals I wanted to achieve.

“Everyone was telling me, ‘You’re crazy, you can be so proud of everything you’ve done’. And I am, trust me, but I’m aiming for the stars. I want to be one of the greats.

“I don’t just want to have one song that’s done a couple of billion streams. I want to have 10. I want my mu to reach as many people as possible.”

James also explained how, prior to his ‘X Factor’ appearance, he didn’t have the money he needed to launch his mu career.

The ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ hitmaker told the BBC: “I had record label executives saying, ‘You could be the next best thing since the Beatles’ but it always came down to the fact that I didn’t have any money that I couldn’t progress.

“I’ve seen friends give up on mu because they don’t have the [financial] backing, they don’t have management, they can’t even afford a train ticket to London.”

James is increasingly frustrated by the lack of working-class muians in the UK.

However, he’s heartened by the recent success of Sam Fender.

James – who was born in Middlesbrough, north-east England – said: “It’s great seeing someone like Sam Fender doing so well, because he’s a proper northern lad like myself – but I think we’ve just got a bit of work to do to educate people outside of the south about different regions.”