Daniel James Turns Back the Hands of Time 35 years after his Instant Replay with Yell!
Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of Yell!
Daniel James Turns Back the Hands of Time 35 years after his Instant Replay with Yell!

David Warren an editor and author for Pop Expresso and in the free time enjoys making instrumental music – davidwarrenmusic.com – and to learn about history and cultures. Reach out at david@popexpresso.com
Daniel James kicks off the 2025 celebration of 35 years since Yell! took over the UK charts with a brand-new self-penned single Promises. It’s an upbeat track that tells the story of one half of a couple who continues to make promises that they never keep, resulting in their partner deciding that they are better off standing tall and realizing they can make it on their own.
Daniel was the founder member of 90’s band Yell! who were formed in 1988 and signed by Simon Cowell to his label Fanfare Records in his pre-BGT days. Although the band had written an album worth of material and more, Simon insisted that they needed a cover as a launch pad.
After much resistance by Daniel, while Yell! where in a club in Ibiza, they saw the reaction of the crowd to the original of Instant Replay when the dance floor filled up with both men and women. They immediately decided that if it had to be a cover for a launch track, then this track was a credible option, so they flew back to London and suggested this to Simon, who coincidently had homed in on the same song from the Guinness Book of Hit Singles (his bible) that he kept under his bed! Yell! went on to have worldwide hits with Instant Replay, Let’s Go Round Again & One Thing Leads to Another. They toured Europe and hit No1 in Japan.
By the time they hit the UK Top 10, they were appearing on hundreds of TV shows and magazine covers. Some of the most memorable appearances include the iconic Top of The Pops, a very cheeky introduction by Michaela Strachan on The Hit Man and Her with Pete Waterman (as seen on Daniel’s Sizzle reel), a performance on the This Morning map in the Liverpool Dock plus several stints exercising with Mad Lizzie on TV AM – one of which ended with them almost splitting their pants!
Eventually the roller coaster had to stop….
After the huge success of Yell! like anyone who loses a coveted job, it wasn’t easy to come to terms with, as highlighted in Boybands Forever the recent BBC documentary by Louis Theroux. Since returning to the music industry Daniel has openly discussed his painful experiences during this time. Because of the “emotional turmoil” this caused Daniel felt he had to leave the UK and relocated to New York.
Living in New York suddenly felt like therapy for Daniel. One cold snowy night after bumping into a playwright on 34th Street, Daniel was persuaded to take on a new challenge, playing Hephaestion in the workshop production of The Feast of Alexander off Broadway.
After 18 months in New York Daniels shattered confidence had begun to return so he flew back to the UK and threw himself into acting and carved out a respectable career, scoring guest lead roles in major TV series including Casualty, Bad Girls, The Last Tango in Halifax, Doctors, Eastenders and Coronation Street.
Daniel returned to music with a song inspired by what he witnessed during lockdown in 2021, he then went on to write several self-penned Top 10 hits including a No1 on the Heritage Chart.
Daniel’s passion for singer/songwriters has led him to host his own worldwide syndicated 2-hour Radio Show Bangers and Chat. In these shows Daniel plays hits from the 70s,80s,90s, and 2000’s. He has unearthed some amazing stories about how these hit songs came about. The next logical step was a series of television interviews with artists discussing their careers. To date these have included Suzi Quatro, Rozalla, Aswad, Fun Boy Three, Debbie Campbell, Jaffa Moore, and The Trammps.
Listen to “Promises” by Daniel James
Read the exclusive Pop Expresso interview with Daniel James from 2021
Read the exclusive Pop Expresso interview with Daniel James from 2023
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