As a child, when Lachy James dreamed of fame and fortune he was more likely to picture himself as a pro surfer than he was to imagine himself as a musician. Lachy grew up in Perth, Western Australia, the second child to Trish and Ian James. A slightly above average student who had the potential to be a high achiever if only he ever bothered to apply himself, most of Lachy’s free time was spent at the beach. A member of the Surf Lifesaving Nippers program, he learned how to be safe in the water from an early age and was never happier than when he was swimming or building some kind of epic sand sculpture. As a teenager, surf lifesaving gave way to surfing and lazy weekends spent at the beach with friends. Music didn’t really factor into his life at all. Although he began learning guitar in high school it was solely because lessons took place during class time and meant half an hour less of class per fortnight, not because he had a genuine interest in music. Growing up in a family that wasn’t particularly musical, it was a surprise to everyone when Lachy turned out to have a natural talent for guitar and the ability to sing reasonably well despite both his parents being more or less tone deaf.

After high school, Lachy had originally wanted to study physiotherapy or marine biology, but his laziness caught up with him and he didn’t receive the marks to get a place at university in either field. Instead, he was accepted into his last choice, early childhood education at RMIT University in Melbourne – something he’d put down more because it was there and less because he had any real interest in working with young children. Nobody who knew him could quite picture him as a kindergarten teacher, but to everyone’s surprise Lachy not only finished the degree but fell in love with teaching as a career, perhaps because he was in many ways still just a big kid himself. Staying in Melbourne for a girl, he found a job as a teacher in a child care centre and the next few years passed fairly uneventfully.

In 2012 it seemed as though Lachy’s life was on track. He had a job he loved, a fiancée (Emily) and a new baby daughter who already had him wrapped around her little finger. Then, shortly after his daughter turned 4 months old, tragedy struck the young family and his life was forever changed. It was Lachy who went to check on their daughter only to discover that she’d stopped breathing. Desperate attempts to resuscitate her proved futile and her death was attributed to SIDS with no clear cause. The stress of losing their daughter proved to be too much for Lachy and Emily’s relationship and that too fell apart, leaving him alone and heartbroken. Even work was suddenly difficult, as he found it too hard to be around young children without remembering what had happened and he was eventually forced to resign.

Unemployed, homeless and miserable, Lachy spent several months couch surfing and busking on Melbourne streets as a way of earning enough cash to at least pay his friends something in rent. It was through busking that he caught the attention of Liberation Music, a small independent record company. Performing under the name of Lachy Leonard, Lachy didn’t expect anything to come of it, recording his first EP more for the experience than because he thought it would be a success. His first single, “From Afar” failed to make any kind of impact, but when “Riptide” was released his life suddenly changed yet again as his career was launched not only in Australia, but worldwide. Not convinced he’d be anything more than a one-hit wonder, Lachy nevertheless embraced the opportunity, making the most of his sudden exposure and releasing his debut album in 2014.