James Mtume

Who is James Mtume?

James Forman, better known by his stage name James Mtume is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B musician, songwriter and radio personality. He came to prominence working with Miles Davis between 1971 and 1975. Mtume's group, also called Mtume, is perhaps best known for the 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit", which has been much sampled. Mtume the band also had a Top Five R&B hit with the single "You, Me, and He". He and Mtume band member, fellow musician Reggie Lucas both won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for writing and producing fellow R&B artist Stephanie Mills' top-ten hit, "Never Knew Love Like This Before", for which she also won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Mtume is the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, and the father of Damu Mtume and Fa Mtume, both music producers. He has also worked as a session musician with Players Association, and has done on-air radio personality work at New York's KISS 98.7 FM. As a songwriter, Mtume has written hits for various artists such as Phyllis Hyman, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Stephanie Mills, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Teddy Pendergrass, Inner City, as well as being lead songwriter for his own band Mtume.