From sleeping rough to palling around with Ed Sheeran, Mitch James' singing success wasn't easy

The Kiwi chart-topper has cemented himself on the music scene, but it hasn’t always been this way.

A Kiwi singer who started out sleeping rough before making his way into a successful music career is facing three award nominations at tonight's Vodafone Music Awards.

Mitch James has become a regular on the Top 40 charts. The 24-year-old singer is up for Album of the Year, Best Solo Artist and Best Pop Artist.

The nominations come ahead of his summer tour with Six60, which kicks off next month and will take him around New Zealand, Australia and London.

While he’s enjoying musical success now, it hasn’t come easy – he was kicked out of home as a teenager and moved to London with 20 pounds in his pocket, finding odd jobs around Europe before being signed in New Zealand.

Along the way he’s picked up a few famous friends, including Ed Sheeran, who he opened for in Dunedin in March.

He told 1 NEWS that despite being the number one pop star in the world, to him, Sheeran still feels like “one of the boys".

The Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards will take place at Auckland’s Spark Arena from 8.30pm.


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