Talk:Branden James

Launched the page for crossover opera vocalist and America's Got Talent finalist Branden James. A page by the same name but for the vocal and cello duo would be useful to avoid confusion. Branden James is a member of the duo but the duo's name is derived from the first name of each of the two band members. --1987atomheartbrother (talk) 18:58, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Unless the duo passes the notability criteria for an ensemble, and it does not appear to remotely do that, it cannot have a stand-alone article. At most Branden James (duo) could be created as a redirect to this article. Wikipedia is not a publicity vehicle. Incidentally, if you have any affiliation whatsoever, either personal, professional, or financial, please read the guidelines and policies at WP:COI and follow them scrupulously. Voceditenore (talk) 10:51, 16 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm pointing out the duo because in my effort I noticed this nuance. I didn't do any research on the duo itself so I'm agnostic on the topic of that page. Only mentioned it for clarity. I have no affiliation whatsoever, I make an effort to contribute to Wikipedia when I can and James seemed to have an interesting and compelling narrative. He seems as notable as other AGT participants that are featured subjects on Wikipedia.1987atomheartbrother (talk)

Opera singer?
As far as I can tell Branden James has never actually performed in an opera, but participated in young artist training programs at the Los Angeles Opera and Metropolitan Opera. Searches of the performance archives with both companies reveal nothing. How can we describe someone as an opera singer when they've never actually appeared in an opera? Of course its possible he performed as a chorus member. Either way the article is misleading. 4meter4 (talk) 04:31, 16 December 2015 (UTC)
 * We can't describe him as an opera singer unless he has sung at least one solo role in a staged opera production in an opera house. The article is very misleading and full of supported self-serving claims. Singing in the chorus (and even that is not verified except to his own claims) does not make you an opera singer, nor does covering opera arias in concerts or talent contests. I have replaced Category:American opera singers with Category:American tenors.


 * I have completely removed the following misleading and untrue claims from the lead sentence:


 * and has performed in residence with the Los Angeles Opera in Los Angeles, California, The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York City, New York, and the Lyric Opera in Chicago, Illinois.


 * I have changed the claim:


 * has performed as a soloist with many major American symphony orchestras


 * to


 * has performed as a soloist with American symphony orchestras.


 * There is not a single independent source in the article which supports either "many" or "leading"
 * Voceditenore (talk) 10:53, 16 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the improvements.--1987atomheartbrother (talk) 22:57, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Referencing problems
This article relies almost exclusively on what James has said about himself and his accomplishments in concert announcements, his own website, interviews, publicity blurbs, press releases, etc. I have tagged the article as needing independent third-party sources. There is also a good deal of reference-padding to make it look as if there is more coverage than there actually is. For example, this, this, and this, are all listed as separate references, when in fact they are all publicity blurbs for the same concert. There are several other instances of this in the article. Voceditenore (talk) 11:09, 16 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I've changed some of the other wording. He pretty much was exclusively a choral singer before America's Got talent. I honestly don't believe the claim that he has been a soloist with orchestras either. Probably just more padding from his work as a choral singer.4meter4 (talk) 15:51, 16 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I'll endeavor to find more third-party sources. Any repetition of references is a result of my effort to remain organized as I found additional sources. I appreciate the improvements to the article since it took hard work to research and organize what I found. I will keep improving it based on your recommendations and appreciate improvements that have been made. I sincerely appreciate the collaborative, volunteer effort we engage in here.--1987atomheartbrother (talk) 22:57, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 one external links on Branden James. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160401104615/http://www.citywinery.com/chicago/tickets/branden-james-the-voice-of-christmas-with-special-guest-marisa-bucheit-12-19.html to http://citywinery.com/chicago/tickets/branden-james-the-voice-of-christmas-with-special-guest-marisa-bucheit-12-19.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20151211120712/http://chicago.gopride.com/news/interview.cfm/articleid/528244 to http://chicago.gopride.com/news/interview.cfm/articleid/528244

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:34, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Branden James. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20151211010659/http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130910/lincoln-park/branden-james-croons-his-way-into-top-12-on-americas-got-talent to http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130910/lincoln-park/branden-james-croons-his-way-into-top-12-on-americas-got-talent

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:26, 3 November 2017 (UTC)