requiescat in pace brian james
Not everybody who reads this blog follows the voiceover industry (hence the marketing and advertising elements in the voxmarketising brand).
But all of you have likely come across the radio imaging, television imaging and commercial work of professional voice over talent Brian James. I don’t know this as a fact but I always had the impression that his voice was on at least one station in every major market in the US. I know the program directors in the UK proudly used Brian to as their stations’ voice as well.
Last Friday, March 6th Brian died of a heart attack.
What Don LaFontaine was to movie trailers, Brian James was to station imaging. I am heart sick for his family and for our industry. I knew him only as a voice talent….but my gracious what a tremendous talent he was.
There are memorials popping up all over the place…this is one that’s set up on Facebook.
Life is a gift, not a guarantee.
Here is a very brief sample of what you’ll now be missing.
[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/mp3/brian_james_radio_imaging.mp3]
Click here to download.
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It has been a month now since Brian passed. Most of the world has moved on now. The fervor of loss has been washed away by the tide of everyday life for most people who knew Brian.
Not for me. Brian is my brother. I had know him longer than anyone else except our mother. I had the privilege to know him for 45 of those 48 years. It was all too short.
Thank you all for appreciating his talent and personality.
-Mike (Brian’s brother)
Hi Mike:
None of us outside your family could compare our sense of loss to yours.
I hope you and your family have been given a sense of how deeply respected Brian was by those of us who work in media. Via the services for your brother, the blog posts and forum posts across the web I hope you’ve felt the admiration we had for someone many of us sadly only knew as a voice talent; though distant in relation, by professional proximity we were full of admiration.
For those fortunate few who were professionally closer to Brian, the respect and sense of loss must have been all the more intense.
But the memory for many of us in the business has not been so quickly washed away as Brian’s radio clients still use many of his voice cuts even today- so important were his talents to the success of those stations. In my hometown, I still hear Brian everyday and often think and offer a quick prayer for your family.
We remain terribly sorry for your family’s loss.
Best always,
– Peter
Peter,
Thank you. It is indeed reassuring to see that so many respected him personally and professionally. He helped many people in his work and on a personal level.
I have met many people over his years in Radio and VO. I have been to some of the award banquets and other events and had an understanding of the scope of his influence.
These posts, blogs, sites, and tributes have put in perspective for Brian’s wife and children (Max, Emma, Summer, and Brooke) just how big his footprint really was.
It will give all of us a means of reflecting on how many lives he touched.
Again, my sincere gratitude to you all for participating in his life.
-Mike