James LeGrand King III is an award-winning music composer, adjudicator, pianist, and educator. Originally from South Carolina, he has been an active teacher and performer in the Florida Keys since 2008.

He studied at the South Carolina Governor’s School of the Arts in 1985 and received his Bachelor’s degree of Music with an emphasis in theory and composition from Furman University in 1990. In 1999, he finished his master’s degree in Music Composition at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.

During the 1990s, he was a musician at Paramount’s Carowinds in Charlotte, NC, and composed and directed music at Kingstree United Methodist Church in Kingstree, SC. His teaching career began in Kingstree and continued when he returned to Charlotte, NC, where he taught at Mars Music.

He moved to North Miami, FL in 1999 and became the #1 piano teacher chain-wide for Mars Music, privately teaching over 75 students weekly, and teaching dozens more in group classes including the Babies Make Music program for infants and preschool-aged children.

James has been a sheet music editor for the Belwin-Mills division of Warner Bros. Publications, Alfred Music, and the FJH Music Company.

In 2008, he accepted a position with Florida Keys Community College as an adjunct instructor of music, teaching music appreciation, music theory, and class piano.

He currently maintains a studio of around 18 students at Island Guitar in Key West, and performs regularly.