Jordan James Pinkston (his stage name is Jordan James), a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a 21-year-old Soul-Pop singer-songwriter, and pianist from Utah.
Jordan was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in North Bend, Washington, which is a suburb of Seattle. He started playing the piano at the young age of six and continued taking lessons up until he was 15. It was then that he started to pursue writing songs on the piano. However, growing up, he had a passion for playing basketball, and at that point, his focus was more on playing the game than music.
When he was 16, he took a class at school that taught him how to use systems like Garageband to help him compose and produce music electronically. As he became familiar with the software programs, he started to record and produce music on an amateur level.
After completing his sophomore year in high school, he decided to quit basketball and began following his dream of becoming a full-time musician. In time, after contacting Mitch Davis, who is a producer, Jordan was able to start recording his self-recorded tracks on a professional level.
After recording his first two professional tracks, he began meeting with another producer/promoter, Greg Hansen, who encouraged him to start working on a video for his first single — an original song called “Change the World.”
Jordan released the music video on his YouTube channel on 24 August 2017. Since its release, as of late January 2022, the dynamic, upbeat video has garnered upwards of 8.7K views on YouTube, and more than 50,000 views on Facebook. The video shows different ways that each of us can change the world in even small ways – from being an encouragement to a friend who is possibly going through a tough time, to volunteering to help others in need by giving of our time and resources, to performing other acts of kindness. Whatever we can do to make even a small change in the world matters.
Jordan’s message about each person doing even a small part to help “Change the World” afforded him the opportunity to perform at different charity events. As part of the LDS Church’s “Light the World” campaign, for example, he was invited to perform at a Food Drive Concert along with some amazing performers such as Madilyn Paige, Kelsey Edwards, Motion Coaster, Ryan Rostrom, Nicole Sheahan, and Monica Moore Smith.
In November 2017, Jordan released a second single, another original song, called “One and Only Me,” which is available to stream on Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify.
Jordan also writes songs for people for special occasions like weddings and birthdays, as well as songs about how to get through difficult times. Some of the other songs that he has written include “Ray’s Song,” “Fighter,” “Fairytale,” “Leave It to Me,” and “It’s Christmas.” He also produced the music for Evelyn Detzany’s original song, “Only One.”
On Friday, 2 February 2018, Jordan James performed at the first annual music festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, called Music Con. On Saturday, 31 March 2018, the music video for his original song “Fighter,” which was recorded live with Reel Sessions, was published on his YouTube channel. And, on Saturday, 12 May 2018, the single for “Fighter” was released and is available for purchase on iTunes and for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify. Jordan donated 50% of the profits from the single to a children’s charity known as Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area.
On Monday, 14 May 2018, Jordan released his EP titled Truth. The six-track album includes his original songs: “Fighter,” “Rejected,” “I Choose You,” “Truth,” “Love You Right,” and “Meant to Be” (featuring Kalaya Arne). The album is available for purchase on iTunes and for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify. Jordan’s music is also available on cdbaby.com.
In celebration of his 18th birthday, Jordan created a fundraiser on Facebook to raise donations for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area. He chose the nonprofit because of his personal connection to them. He explained, “[This year] they chose my song “Fighter” to be their theme for the annual fundraising event featuring the families and especially the children who have a home to live in while they are receiving treatments.”
Jordan also performed his original song, “Fighter,” Live on stage at the Rose Wagner Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the 90&9 events production of Fighter. 90&9 is a nonprofit that supports suicide prevention.
Jordan was interviewed on Utah’s radio station B98.7 on 13 June 2018. During the interview, his original song, “Fighter” was played on behalf of the Ronald McDonald House Charities to help more people to be aware of the opportunity to donate to this local charity through downloading and streaming his song.
On 1 July 2018, he was featured on the radio show, Sunday Sounds, with host Greg Hansen. He talked about why he wrote the song “Fighter” and then performed the song. The song has become a motivational song for anyone that is fighting trials or diseases and many people have since reached out to him letting him know that his songs inspire them to stay positive and to never give up.
At JOYCON 2018, held on Saturday, 29 September 2018, Jordan James was one of the featured music artists. Other music artists who performed at the event included Milana Nigro (Milana Rocks), Clint Pulver, Nick Sales, TORCH family music, Allie Gardner, Scott & Ryceejo, and SPARK. The one-night event was a conference unlike any other, which featured uplifting music, messages, and fun for the entire family.
On Friday, 5 October 2018, Jordan released another original song called “Leave It to Me” on Spotify and Amazon Music. The song is about learning to put our faith and trust in the Lord. No matter what we may be going through in life, there is no problem that He cannot solve. The Savior bids us all to “Leave It to Me.”
On Saturday, 6 October 2018, Jordan released the official music video for his original song called “U Matter.” The video features Yahosh Bonner, Aaliyah Rose, and Daysha Lassiter, with backup vocals provided by some of the members of The Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir. The song has become an anthem for those who may have contemplated suicide themselves or who know friends and family members who have. The powerful message of the song is “U Matter” — We All Matter.
Jordan James also writes songs for other music artists like Aaliyah Rose who was a former contestant on NBC’s The Voice in 2017. He wrote the song “Sing Praises” for her, which was published on her YouTube channel on 19 December 2018. Jordan is also featured on the 2019 Mutual Album for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a song that he co-wrote with Nik Day called “Merciful.” You can download the MP3 file for “Merciful” by going to the 2019 Mutual Theme Resources page and you can find the lyrics to the song here.
In March 2019, Jordan released his original song, “So Far Gone.” And on Friday, 26 April 2019, he released a dynamic duet performance with Aaliyah Rose of his original song, “So Difficult.”
On Saturday, 27 April 2019, Jordan James performed at the Ronald McDonald House Charities Intermountain Area, singing his original songs “Fighter” and “Change the World.” On Sunday, 28 April 2019, he was featured on the radio program Sunday Sounds hosted by Greg Hansen on FM100.3 in the “Story Behind the Song” segment. He talked about how the song “Merciful” came about and told the listening audience that he would be serving an English-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Arizona Phoenix Mission. He then sang the song, “Merciful.”
Jordan James released his nine-track album called My Desire on Friday, 21 June 2019. The album is comprised of original songs written by Jordan and features artists like Jay Warren, Frank Zoo, Aaliyah Rose, Yahosh Bonner, and Daysha Lassiter. It is an album that a person will want to add to their playlist and listen to many times over. It is available for purchase and download on iTunes, and for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify. The album is only a taste of bigger things yet to come for Jordan.
After completing his music mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the summer of 2020, Jordan earned a certificate from the Berklee College of Music. He has also completed two semesters at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, where he is currently a student.
His latest release is his new single called “Back Then.” The song was released on Friday, 28 January 2022, and is available for purchase, download, and streaming on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
