User:Simonj24/James Sargeant (organist)

James Sargeant is a British organ and keyboard player, well known for his work with Yamaha Corporation.

Early life
James was born in North Ferriby, near Hull, East Yorkshire and grew up in the Hull suburb of Willerby. From an early age, he showed great interest in music and this led to his further study whilst at school and college.

Early career
Whilst still at college, James took a part-time job in a well-known local music store, and on leaving college, he became the store's manager on a full-time basis. After a number of years, he had taken responsibility for sales and purchasing of keyboards and pianos for the group's five stores.

The Hammond years
James's playing style lent itself to the traditional Hammond organ and so it was no surprise when he was offered a position with Hammond UK as Sales Promotions Manager. During this time, he toured the country with Hammond Roadshow demonstrations and concerts, performing on the company's EX, SX and CX series instruments as well as the XB drawbar organs. James was also involved with software development, being instrumental in producing software for the company's XT/XH "Century" series models. These software packages, including "Kings & Queens", "Brassed Off" and "Preset Reset", remain sought after by XT/XH owners to this day.

The Yamaha years
James joined Yamaha in 1998 as an Electone performer, and also demonstrating the Clavinova range of digital pianos and Portatone keyboards. He quickly became a familiar face at the UK's leading keyboard events.