Rory Graham, known as Rag 'n' Bone Man, is a British blues and soul singer. Rory Graham grew up in East Sussex in the South East of England. Both parents were active as musicians, their love for blues music influenced him in his childhood. His first musical steps, however, he undertook with hip-hop music. At the age of 15, Graham was a rapper in a drum-n 'bass crew under the name of Rag' n 'Bonez. After refining his rap skills at freestyle and jam sessions in Brighton and on the UK tour with hip hop artists like Roots Manuva, he went to London to Slipjam B at the Brixton Jamm Club. Here he founded with Gizmo and DJ Direct the crew Rum Comittee, with which they were some years as Support act on the road and published their own album. His artist name Rag 'n' Bone Man, he chose the British comedy series Steptoe and Son from the 1960s and 1970s. Parallel to this career he worked privately at his potential as a singer. At the age of 19 he sang a Blues Jam in a pub, encouraged by his father. The positive reactions led him to release the self-produced vocal EP Blues Town soon after. This opened him further doors, and he was booked for acoustic gigs, for example as a support act for Joan Armatrading in the Brighton Dome. Graham was professionally trained as a healer for children and adolescents with Asperger's autism. He gave up his profession in favor of music. In 2013, he signed his first record contract and released the EPs Wolves and Disfigured. For some time he also lived in London, but returned to the South East. In 2015, Graham was introduced by the BBC and others as a discovery. In the same year, he also performed at the prestigious Glastonbury Festival. Columbia signed him and prepared his first album release for the coming year. In 2016 further performances followed at renowned festivals, for example the 50th Montreux Jazz Festival and the Reading Festival. On July 21, 2016, the song Human was released as the first single of his debut album. In Germany and Switzerland, the song went into the charts shortly thereafter. In Germany it reached position 1 of the iTunes charts at the beginning of September and four weeks later place 1 of the official charts. Austria and Switzerland followed. With 11 weeks at the top of the German charts (as of December 10, 2016), Human was the most stable number one hit by a British soloist in the history of the weekly German charts. In December Graham was awarded the Critics' Prize of the BRIT Awards.
