Sells and his brother James were
co-parented, being brought up dividing their time between their father's house and their mother's house after their parents split when he was three years old, following his mother's coming out. His mother is
disability rights and LGBT rights campaigner
Katherine Gillespie Sells, and his father is Keith Sells. He was also parented by his mother's former partner Dilis, whom he refers to as his other mother. Sells attended Osidge Primary School and
Ashmole School in London along with fellow students
Amy Winehouse and
Rachel Stevens (
S Club 7). In early 2007, Sells was in an advertising campaign for the
Autograph range at
Marks and Spencer. He says he took part partly because his grandmother liked
M&S, and would like to see him advertising it. In addition to his work with the Feeling, he co-wrote songs for
Sophie Ellis-Bextor's third solo album,
Trip the Light Fantastic. The two songs he co-wrote appear on the track-listing as, "Only One" and "Love Is Here". Both tracks also feature his vocals, and "Love Is Here" includes his bandmate
Richard Jones, Sophie Ellis-Bextor's husband, on bass guitar. Ellis-Bextor features on the Feeling's album,
Together We Were Made, on the song "Leave Me Out of It". Sells co-wrote and co-performed (both with
Ian Masterson) the theme tune to the 2008
BBC comedy drama series
Beautiful People, an adaptation of the memoirs of
Simon Doonan. In addition, Sells also contributed another original track, entitled "Beautiful People", as well as a 2006 cover version of
Daryl Hall & John Oates's "
She's Gone" with his Feeling bandmates. All three tracks appeared on the
Beautiful People soundtrack album released in October 2008. In 2014, he began to collaborate with choreographer
Javier de Frutos on a ballet piece entitled '3 With D' which featured the Royal Ballet's principal dancer
Edward Watson and premiered at
London Coliseum. In 2017, Sells composed the music for the musical ''
Everybody's Talking About Jamie''. The show opened at the
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in February 2017 and transferred to the West End at the
Apollo Theatre in November. The soundtrack was released as an album in the same year, and features vocals by
Sophie Ellis-Bextor,
Betty Boo, and
Josie Walker. In November 2023 Sells was a contestant on BBC's
Celebrity Mastermind, answering questions on
Bernie Taupin. ==Influences==