James singer Tim Booth reveals he needed to claim unemployment benefit last year

May 2021 · 2 minute read

JAMES singer Tim Booth has revealed he needed to claim unemployment benefit last year.

Booth, 61, who sold 25 million albums with hits such as Sit Down, said he lost about £10,000 in 2020 as gigs were axed.

He added: “Whenever I see internet estimates of my wealth I find it hysterically funny.

"For all the records we sold, we made very little because of the way our early record deals were structured.

“We played nearly 100 gigs in 2019 but had to scrap an entire tour in 2020, so made zero money last year.

“My earnings were minus $15,000, so I claimed unemployment benefit in America.”

Booth said he lived in a “wood shack” in LA with his wife and son — but sold it last year to Dustin Hoffman’s daughter before returning to the UK.

Asked about his finances when the band James first formed in Manchester in 1982, he said the band were all on £35-a-week Enterprise Allowance, set up by the Government to help new businesses get off the ground.

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He said: “We were on £35 a week each during the early years of the band, supplemented by the Enterprise Allowance, which really helped.

“I lived in a squat in Hulme, on one of the most dangerous roads in Britain.

“We nearly went bankrupt a few times — the only thing that kept us going was our faith in ourselves.”

Unemployment rate rises to 5% as 1.72million now without a job

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