Growing up in the sleepy Phoenix, Arizona, suburb of Scottsdale, James spent long summer hours crooning out Beatles songs with his childhood musician friend Kevin Crum on Kevin's parents' back porch. Always making sure to play and sing the Beatles exactly as they heard them on local radio stations KRIZ and KRUX, the pair couldn't get enough of reenacting the Fab Four's stage act, much like thousands of other young aspiring pop musicians around the globe. Kevin taught James his first guitar chords in those early years and it wasn't long before they decided to actually try performing in front of human beings, as opposed to only Kevin's dog, Josh. James first enrolled in remedial piano lessons at the tender age of nine but ended up hating every single second of it. His teacher was an old bag of at least a hundred and three who, according to James, had "obnoxious breath that emanated from her cavernous cake hole in a noxious plume of sulphur dioxide." Unfortunately this horrid experience did nothing but dampen James's interest in music at least for a few years until, one day while enjoying some vintage Tom and Jerry he stumbled on a clip of the Beatles' famous first appearances on the Ed Sullivan show with all its screaming and adoring fans. That was when he emphatically stated "yes! That's what I want to do." With that, James was able to finagle enough money out of his parents to get a cheap, used acoustic guitar at the local pawn shop.Thankfully there were enough dive bars and testosterone-charged frat parties around the ASU campus in Tempe, Arizona, willing to book three skinny, shiny-nosed kids' eardrum-demolishing Who renditions that James was even able to hone his bass guitar thumping skills with musician friends Kevin Kennedy and Kevin Crum. In power-trios with names like Munch, Fyxture, the Millionaires, and the Mill Avenue Madmen, and playing for nothing but free beer on Friday nights to sh*t-faced college kids and various colorful street thugs and Hell's Angels in bars along the old, since-demolished, college thoroughfare of Mill Avenue, it's rather remarkable that James still has any of his hearing left after all those gigs. Somewhere around a few years ago, James had the privilege to embark on a magical mystery tour playing bass guitar and singing in several Phoenix rock bands with some fine musicians, most notably -- but not limited to -- Captain Trips, with members Kevin Kennedy (drums), Kevin Crum (lead guitar), Carolyn Holtzen Fazio (keyboards), and Chris "Roc Savage" Andersen (guitars); Atlantis, with members Kevin Kennedy (drums), and Preston Smith (all guitars); Goldmyne, with members Bobby Frazier (guitars), John Tatum (guitars), and Larry Schweikart (drums) -- also in Goldmyne with popular Phoenix jazz vocalist Alice Tatum. In the San Francisco Bay Area James played bass in the band Access, with members Tony Alosi (guitars), Bob Steerman (drums), and Dave Howes (keyboards). James returned to Tempe and graduated ASU with a marketing degree, then moved to Colorado and New Mexico to pursue more music and an advertising career. There James played guitars in the band Jenerik with members Eric Schlotthauer (lead guitars), Dave Ozz (bass guitar), and Doug Hodges (drums), After a few years he then migrated back to Scottsdale where he now resides. He now is involved with the licensing of some of his music for use in film and television, spending much of his time in his studio, in his car, sometimes going to the park, and drinking coffee. The pop and rock tune "Dream Away" features artist James M Stellhorn writing and performing all instruments, while Tony Alosi takes on the lead vocals, with the pair blending on the harmonies. Utilizing pop melodies and progressions James's music is influenced by a wide span of artists from the Beatles and the Who to Cheap Trick, Oasis, and Foo Fighters. Always a fan of full instrumentation and vocals, utilizing the "wall of sound" innovated by early record producers of 60s, James and Tony provides the listener with catchy lyrics and melodies propelled by a solid drum, bass, and guitar platform.