{{Infobox Musique (artiste)
 | charte  = vocal
|NomArtiste=James Jamerson
|nom naissance=
|image=
|légende=
|naissance=, Edisto Island (Caroline du Sud)
|décès=, Los Angeles
|profession=bassiste
|années actives= 1954 - 1983
|genre=Soul
|label=Motown
|site officiel=
}}

'''James Jamerson''' (29 janvier 1938 – 2 août 1983) était un musicien américain. Il fut le bassiste non-crédité de la plupart des hits de Motown, son label dans les années 1960 et début 1970, et est reconnu comme un des plus influents bassistes dans l'histoire de la musique moderne. Il a été introduit au Rock and Roll Hall of Fame en 2000.

==Biographie==
Né à Edisto Island, près de Charleston (Caroline du Sud), Jamerson déménage avec sa mère à Detroit (Michigan) en 1954. Il apprend la contrebasse au lycée de Northwestern, et commence rapidement à jouer dans les clubs de blues et de jazz aux alentours de Detroit.

===Les années Motown===
Jamerson continue à jouer dans les clubs après son diplôme, et sa réputation croissante commence à lui donner des opportunités pour quelques sessions d'enregistrement dans des studios locaux. À partir de 1959 il trouve un travail stable au studio ''Hitsville USA'' de Berry Gordy, le repaire du label Motown. Il y devient un membre du noyau principal de musiciens du studio qui s'appelle The Funk Brothers. Ce petit groupe fermé de musiciens effectue la grande majorité des enregistrements pour Motown dans les années 1960. Les premières sessions de Jamerson sont effectuées sur contrebasse, mais il se met rapidement à jouer à la basse électrique.

Comme James, la plupart des autres ''Funk Brothers'' sont des musiciens jazz qui ont été recrutés par Gordy. Pendant plusieurs années, ils maintiennent un planning typique : enregistrement en journée dans le Studio A, une petite cave de Motown surnommée ''the Snakepit'', puis concert la nuit dans les clubs de jazz. Ils font occasionnellement des tournées américaines avec les artistes de Motown. Cependant, les Funk Brothers ne sont pas crédités pendant la majorité de leur carrière sur les singles et albums Motown, et ils touchent beaucoup moins d'argent que les artistes ou le label. Finalement, Jamerson est mis sous contrat par Motown pour  dollars par semaine, ce qui lui permet de vivre lui et sa famille dans un certain confort.

La discographie de Jamerson à Motown comporte des centaines de hits, parmi lesquels ''Shotgun'' de My Girl'' de Beatles. Concernant le classement uniquement R&B, près de 70 de ses titres atteignent le top.

Jamerson est aussi connu pour avoir étendu et popularisé le rôle de la basse dans la musique, qui consistait généralement aux syncopées et plus improvisées qu'avant. Son jeu est considéré comme partie intégrante du ''son Motown''. Les bassistes de John Paul Jones de Led Zeppelin, en passant par Billy Sheehan à Paul McCartney se sont réclamés de l'influence de James Jamerson.

=== Carrière après Motown ===
Juste après que Motown a déplacé son quartier général à Los Angeles en 1972, Jamerson déménage aussi et trouve du travail en studio occasionnellement, mais sa relation avec Motown se termine officiellement en 1973. Il continue à réaliser des hits des années 1970 comme ''Show and Tell'' (Al Wilson), ''Rock the Boat'' (Hues Corporation), ''Boogie Fever'' (the Sylvers), et ''You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)'' (Marilyn McCoo et Billy Davis Jr).

Souffrant depuis longtemps d'alcoolisme, Jamerson meurt des complications d'une cirrhose, d'une déficience cardiaque et d'une pneumonie le 2 août 1983 à Los Angeles, à l'âge de 45 ans. Il laisse une femme et quatre enfants.

== Célébrité ==
Comme les autres Funk Brothers, James Jamerson n'a pas atteint le sommet de sa célébrité de son vivant. En fait, ce n'est qu'en 1971 que son nom est pour la première fois affiché sur une production de Motown, où il est présenté en tant que  sur la pochette de ''What's Going On'' de Marvin Gaye.

{{Infobox musical artist
| Name                = James Jamerson
| Img                 = Jamerson.jpg
| Img_capt            =  (c. 1965)
| Background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| Born                = <br>U.S.
| Origin              = U.S.
| Died                = <br>U.S.
| Genre               = Soul
| Instrument          = Bass guitar, Double Bass
| Occupation          = Bassist
| Years_active        = 1958–1983
| Label               =  Motown
| Associated_acts     = The Funk Brothers
| Notable_instruments = 1962 Fender Precision Bass
}}

'''James Lee Jamerson'''    (January 29, 1938 - August 2, 1983) was an American musician. He was the uncredited bass guitarist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list credits on their releases until 1971), and he has become regarded as one of the most influential bass guitar players in modern music history.  He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

==Biography==
A native of Edisto Island (near Charleston), Northwestern High School, and he soon began playing in Detroit area blues and jazz clubs.

===Motown years===
Jamerson continued performing in Detroit clubs after graduating high school, and his increasingly solid reputation started providing him opportunities for sessions at various local recording studios.  Starting in 1959 he found steady work at Berry Gordy's Hitsville U.S.A. studio, home of the Motown record label.  There he became a member of a core of studio musicians who informally called themselves The Funk Brothers.  This small, close-knit group of musicians performed on the vast majority of Motown recordings during most of the 1960s.  Jamerson's earliest Motown sessions were performed on double bass, but in the early 1960s he switched to mostly playing electric bass. 

Like Jamerson, most of the other Funk Brothers were jazz musicians who had been recruited by Gordy.  For many years, they maintained a typical schedule of recording during the day at Motown's small garage "Studio A" (which they nicknamed "the Snakepit"), then playing gigs in the jazz clubs at night.  They also occasionally toured the U.S. with Motown artists.  However for most of their career, the members of the Funk Brothers went uncredited on Motown singles and albums, and their pay was considerably less than the artists or the label received.  Eventually Jamerson was put on retainer with Motown for one thousand dollars a week, which afforded him and his ever-expanding family a comfortable lifestyle.

Jamerson's discography at Motown reads as a catalog of soul hits of the 1960s and 1970s. His work includes Motown hits such as, among hundreds of others, "Shotgun" by For Once in My Life", "I Was Made To Love Her" by My Girl" by The Temptations, "Dancing in the Street" by Martha and the Vandellas, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and later by Marvin Gaye, and most of the album ''What's Going On'' by Marvin Gaye, "Reach Out I'll Be There" by The Four Tops, and "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes.He is also credited with what many consider to be the finest bass lines ever recorded: "Bernadette" with the Four tops (Among other classic Motown hits claimed by Los Angeles bassist Carol Kaye), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" with The Supremes, and  "Every Kinda People" with Robert Palmer. He is reported to have played on some 95% of Motown recordings between 1962 and 1968.  He eventually performed on nearly 30 No. 1 pop hits -- surpassing the record commonly attributed to The Beatles. On the R&B charts, nearly 70 of his performances went to the top.

====Style and influence====
Jamerson is noted for expanding the role of the bass in popular music, which until that time largely consisted of root notes, fifths and simple repetitive patterns.  By contrast, many of Jamerson's bass lines for Motown were more melodic, more syncopated, and more improvisational than had been heard before.  His bass playing was considered an integral part of the "John Paul Jones, Robert DeLeo, Mike Watt, Billy Sheehan, and Paul McCartney.

=== Post-Motown career ===
<!-- Deleted image removed: right|thumb|Jamerson in 1972  -->
Shortly after Motown moved their headquarters to Los Angeles, California in 1972, Jamerson moved there himself and found occasional studio work, but his relationship with Motown officially ended in 1973.  He went on to perform on such 1970s hits as "Rock the Boat" (Hues Corporation), "Boogie Fever" (The Sylvers), and "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)" (Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.). But as other musicians went on to use high-tech amps, round-wound strings, and simpler, more repetitive bass lines, incorporating new techniques like thumb slapping, Jamerson's style   fell out of favor with local producers and he found himself reluctant to try new things. By the 1980s he was unable to get any serious gigs work as a session musician.

Long troubled by  Woodlawn Cemetery. 

== Recognition ==
James Jamerson (as is the case with the other Funk Brothers) received little formal recognition for his lifetime contributions.  In fact, it wasn't until 1971, when he was acknowledged as "the incomparable James Jamerson" on the sleeve of Marvin Gaye's ''What's Going On'', that his name even showed up on a major Motown release.

Jamerson was the subject of a 1989 book by Allan Slutsky (aka "Dr. Licks") titled ''Standing in the Shadows of Motown''.  The book includes a biography of Jamerson, a few dozen transcriptions of his bass lines, and two CDs in which 26 internationally known professional bassists (such as Will Lee, documentary film of the same title.