Man Who Chucked Pension Consulting for Music: "Life Is Too Short"

Name: Drew James

Age: "62 going on 61"

Occupation: Singer/songwriter

Are you local to the area? Born and raised in San Francisco.

Have you played at the before? This is my first time in Kensington. It’s a nice crowd here. The weather is beautiful today. It’s a nice little market.

Where do you play in the Bay Area? I play almost all of the farmer’s markets and all around the Bay Area: in Marin, South City, and the East Bay. I have around 150 gigs a year.

You’re a true working musician. Yes. I play all my own original music; I write all these songs myself. I’ve got several hundred songs that I’ve written.

What are your influences? I guess my primary influence is Tom Waits. He’s really the guy that opened my eyes to songwriting, and (also) certain things that have happened in my life. In 1997 my brother, who is three years younger than I am, passed away from cancer, and that kind of turned my head around. I was a professional pension consultant — I used to work like 60 hours a week, and I realized that life is too short. I have a mathematics degree — I had a very successful career — but it wasn’t really what I wanted to do, after doing some soul searching.

Tom Waits has been around lately: I just heard him on NPR. He has a new CD that he just released last fall.

So now you’re doing what you love and enjoying it. I’ve heard that people who spend double time doing something they love are more happy than people who spend half the time doing something they don’t love, although I don’t know how the math works out on that one. (laughs) That’s true. It’s definitely not about the money. 

How long have you been a full-time musician? I’ve been doing the musician thing since 2003. I didn’t start writing songs until 1999, when I was about 50 years old. I’ve been playing guitar, though, since I was 13 — Beatles influence.

I’m having a good time: I’m enjoying it. I get a lot of positive feedback on my music. That’s really what I’m looking for. I’m a very introverted person, so it’s really how I connect with people. 

For other installments in our Who's Who series, click here and here.

About this column: In this regular feature, El Cerrito Patch will tell you about someone who lives or works in our community. Want to suggest someone to be featured? Write to elcerrito@patch.com.