Jim Adkins is the lead singer and guitarist of the platinum selling American alternative rock/ emo band Jimmy Eat World.
The Arizona based band was formed in 1993 and comprises of Jim Adkins, plus guitarist and backing singer Tom Linton, drummer Zach Lind and bass player Rick Burch. Tom Linton was the original lead singer with Jim Adkins providing backing vocals but this later would change.
The band knew each other from school – Jim Adkins and Zach Lind since pre school and the name comes from a crayon drawing done by Tom Linton’s younger brother Ed after a childish argument which depicted his brother Jimmy eating the world.
The band initially a punk band, recorded a demo tape in 1993 and their first EP in 1994, titled “One Two Three Four”. The band signed to small independent label Wooden Blue Records and released a self titled album in 1994.This had punk influences but the band were becoming influenced by the emo sound especially the music of Sunny Day Real Estate. The band signed to major label Capitol records and produced their first major label album “Static Prevails”
Once they started touring on the indie circuit, Jimmy Eat World began attracting attention. The band recorded a second album “Clarity” in 1998 – with Jim Adkins taking over vocalist duties from Tom Linton.
Jim Adkins is a prolific songwriter and writes much of the bands material.
Jimmy Eat World recorded the next album independently before being signed to DreamWorks. The album “Bleed American was released in 2001 but renamed Jimmy Eat World, following the September 11th attacks in case of misinterpretation. This was their breakthrough recording and Bleed American was later re released in 2008 under the original name. Four singles charted within the top 20 of the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, and “The Middle” peaked at number one
The band have since released a further three albums. The band’s sixth album, Chase This Light, became the band’s highest charting record, peaking at number five on the Billboard 200, and the most recent album “Invented” was released in September 2010 along with the single “My Best Theory”.
Jimmy Eat World has toured extensively throughout 2010 playing major dates in Australia and also a headline UK and Ireland tour.
Jim Adkins plays a Fender telecaster and has recently collaborated with Fender in designing a Jim Adkins signature model based on an earlier Fender model TC90. This is a Tinline with a semi hollow body with f hole and is now available as the JA90.