Jim of Seattle has been writing music since 1980. As the name suggests, he was born and raised in the Emerald City, and can rightfully claim he attended the Seattle World's Fair, (though he couldn’t see any of it through the walls of the baby carriage). He has lived within the city limits pretty much his entire life.

In 1980-81 Jim produced seven "albums" on a cheap cassette recorder with album covers made from cardboard and felt pens. Exactly one copy exists of each. Some examples can be found on this site if you know where to look. He then went to music school at University of Washington and wrote music he hated, such as "Screams for Solo Piano". Meanwhile, he wrote and drew two comic book operas, "Sweeney Todd God" and "Door Door Door Door Me".

Jim wrote a lot for musical theatre and had some success there. Then he stopped doing that.

After a few years writing instrumental children's music as well as a gig with Disney for the cult video game Nightmare Ned, he spent several years writing for an online songwriting competition. After twenty years writing musicals and modern classical stuff, his music again sounded like it did when he was in his basement with a cheap cassette recorder.

A few years later he connected with Tom Dyer of Green Monkey Records. Tom invited Jim to produce a real album, which became We Are All Famous, released in 2013. The album made multiple top ten lists and received much critical acclaim. Jim released his second album, Both the Planet Frank and The Chet Lambert Show, in October 2016.

Jim's third album, Carkeek Park Suite, was released in 2024 and is a suite for two pianos and orchestra.

Jim started the Jim-of-Seattle-of-the-Month Club in 2024, a free snail-mail-only subscription project in which songs and videos are sent to subscribers via postcard. Sign up here!