Born in a musical family (his father was part of popular South Jersey cover band Sweet Life), David James grew up surrounded by music. He started playing the piano at five and then learnt the saxophone in high school, where he also joined a cappella band. He then enrolled at The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and later moved to New York. In 2005 he went back to his musical dream and a friend helped him getting into Sony Publishing and Epic Records.
Back to his mother's house in Philadelphia he recorded his self-produced album, ?Five Miles East? in 2006 and moved to Los Angeles.