Morrison began playing guitar at age 13 when his uncle Joe showed him how to play a blues riff. He started busking when he lived in the village of Porth, near Newquay, Cornwall. After some years of covering other musician's songs, he eventually started to compose his own but with the help of an extremely talented musician, who was a family friend; Emma Withers. He attributes his distinctive voice to a severe bout with whooping Cough that nearly killed him when he was a baby. According to Morrison, he was influenced by music from a very young age, listening to artists such as Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Van Morrison and Al Green. Morrison said that the first time he heard Stevie Wonder's voice he was close to tears, and has since been fascinated by the way he utilizes his voice.

While visiting Derby, Morrison found a pub called "Ryan's Bar" with an open mic night. For the next two years, he performed and built up a following until being signed by Polydor Records. Before being signed to a major label, Morrison had also been touring with Corinne Bailey Rae.

He achieved worldwide success with debut single "You Give Me Something", which reached #2 in Holland and the #5 spot in the UK. He released his debut album Undiscovered on 31 July 2006. The album received generally positive reviews with the The Sun, claiming "There isn't a bad track on it". An equally positive review by The Times stated that "Undiscovered may prove to be the least apposite album title for years". It topped the UK Albums Chart on its first week of its release. The album sold over 1 million copies around the world by the end of 2006., making Morrison the best selling male solo artist of 2006 in the UK.

The album's second single was "Wonderful World", which broke into the top ten in the UK following its CD single release, peaking at #8. The song fared just as well in the Netherlands where it peaked at #8. This was his second top ten single following the success of You Give Me Something. On 18 December 2006 James Morrison's third single, "The Pieces Don't Fit Anymore" was released. It peaked at #30 in the UK. The fourth single from Undiscovered was the title song "Undiscovered" which was released on March 13 2007. "Undiscovered" peaked at #63. The song fared better in the Netherlands where it peaked at #30.

Morrison was scheduled to play at the 2006 V Festival, in one of the smaller tents there. The audience however, was much larger than expected and couldn't fit into the tent allocated for him. As a result, he had a ten-minute set on the main stage before Hard-Fi came on (Weston Park). At the 2007 V Festival he played his full set on the main stage. He also performed "You Give Me Something" at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance before Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall. He appeared on Live from Abbey Road following his live recording session at Abbey Road Studios on 5 January 2007.

Following the release of Undiscovered, Morrison made his first appearance on national TV in the United States, at the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, in addition to appearing on NBC's Today Show, on 16 March 2007, performing "You Give Me Something" with just guitar and Wurlitzer piano. The album debuted at #24 in the US with 24,000 copies in its first week.

In 2007, Morrison went out with Holly Hermon and was also nominated for 3 BRIT Awards and won the Best British Male Solo Artist category. (Other nominations were for the Best British Breakthrough Act, Best British Single Shortlist). On 4 April 2007, he was awarded the title of an AOL Breaker artist, a contest that was voted by the British public.

At the Concert for Diana on 1 July 2007, he performed the songs "Wonderful World" and "You Give Me Something" in honour of Princess Diana. During the summer of 2007, Morrison headlined the Forestry Commission's Forest Tour. His fifth UK single, One Last Chance was released on 2 July 2007 as a download only. The video is being shown on The Hits, The Box and Smash Hits music channels. The video was shot in Canada in April 2007. On 29 November 2007, he performed in KL Convention Center for the Acoustic Live&Loud KL '07; a music festival in Malaysia. James had performed alongside Rick Price and local singer Dayang Nurfaizah.

Morrison collaborated with Jason Mraz on the track "Details In The Fabric" on Mraz's new studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., which was released on 13 May 2008..

On 29 September 2008, Morrison's second album entitled Songs for You, Truths for Me was released. In the writing process for this album he worked with Ryan Tedder, Martin Terefe, Martin Brammer and Steve Robson. The album also features a duet with Nelly Furtado entitled "Broken Strings" co-written with Fraser T. Smith and Nina Woodford. From October 2008 until the end of the year Morrison has toured throughout Europe. The album performed well, debuting in the top three of the UK Albums Chart and spending 5 weeks in the top ten. When talking about the album, Morrison stated that the music had 'moved on' a lot from the first album but not to the point where fans of his previous album wouldn't be able to "get it".

"You Make It Real" was released a week before the release of the album as the lead single. As part of the promotion, Morrison performed the single on GMTV, Radio 1's Live Lounge and a the BBC Children in Need charity appeal. The song debuted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart giving Morrison his third top ten hit. "You Make It Real" spent a total of eight weeks on the chart. The second single of the album was "Broken Strings," the collaboration with Nelly Furtado. The single was released on the 15th of December 2008. It entered the singles charts at number 73 and slowly rose for four weeks before, following a performance of the song with Girls Aloud on The Girls Aloud Party, broke into the top ten at number 6, giving Morrison his fourth top ten hit. The following week the song rose to a new high, rising to number 4 on the 2008 Christmas chart. This makes Broken Strings Morrison's most successful single by peak position to date in the UK as, on January 11, 2009 it climbed to number two, being held off the top spot by Just Dance, the debut single from Lady Gaga. In Germany it entered the charts at number one giving Morrison his first number one single to date in Germany.

Following the success of Broken Strings, the album which had been gradually descending down the album chart, made a leap from number forty eight to twenty nine and then two weeks later, re-entered the top ten at number seven. It rose again the next week to number four and was charting at number five, twenty weeks after release. The same effect allowed Songs For You, Truths For Me to gain success in Ireland. After dropping off the Irish Albums Chart completely, it re-entered the chart at number seventy three. It rose for several weeks until it was charting at number thirteen. The next week the album climbed to the top of the chart, entering the top ten at number one. This gave Songs For You, Truths For Me its first number one chart placement and gave Morrison his second number one album which both have been very successful and given him great opportunities to show his amazingly talented voice and charismatic style.

On April 30th, 2009, it was announced on Take That's official site that James Morrison would be supporting the band at some venues and dates on their 2009 tour. Morrison will perform along with singer Gary Go, in the Sunderland Stadium of Light on June 5th, the Coventry Ricoh Arena on June 9th, the Cardiff Millennium Stadium on June 16th and 17th, the Glasgow Hampden Park on June 20th, the Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground on June 26th and in the London Wembley Stadium on July 1st.