James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953 – June 18, 2024), was an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer.

A key figure in no wave, Chance played a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and punk in the New York music scene from the late 1970s on, in such bands as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, James White and the Blacks (as he appeared in the film Downtown 81), The Flaming Demonics, James Chance & the Sardonic Symphonics, James Chance and Terminal City, and James Chance and Les Contortions.

James Siegfried was born in Milwaukee in 1953, growing up there and in the suburb of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Siegfried attended Michigan State University, then the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. There, he joined a band named Death, which performed covers of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground before moving toward original songs.

At the end of 1975, Siegfried dropped out and moved to New York City after the dissolution of the band and the death of its singer. He quickly became active in both the free jazz and no wave punk rock scenes. His first band in New York in 1976 was an instrumental quartet with violin, drums and bass called Flaming Youth. He started Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with Lydia Lunch the same year. In 1977, after studying for a short time under David Murray, he formed The Contortions, who fused jazz improvisation and funky rhythms, with live shows often ending in violent confrontations with audience members. By this time, he had adopted the stage name James Chance. The Contortions reached a wider audience with their contribution to the Brian Eno-compiled No New York collection of No Wave acts. The band appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film Das Todesmagazin in 1979.^{[citation needed]}

While Chance shared an apartment with No Wave musical luminary Lydia Lunch, the duo created seminal No Wave group Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, which Chance soon left.

Chance was noted for engaging in physical confrontations, from forcing the audience out of their seats and getting in fist fights with his New York City audience, including rock critic Robert Christgau. At first, this was just an attempt to engage the passive New York audience, but this practice is reported to have somewhat diminished after audiences came to expect the physical confrontations. He discussed issues of race and working with black musicians in a number of interviews.

In 1979, Chance collaborated with Arto Lindsay, Bradley Field, and George Scott on the soundtrack to Diego Cortez's film Grutzi Elvis.

Chance's stage and musical persona were finalized by romantic partner and agent Anya Phillips, who died of cancer in 1981. Frictions between Chance and band members eventually led to a breakup of the Contortions in the fall of 1979. The Contortions released one album, Buy in late 1979, and another album, Off White, under the pseudonym James White and the Blacks in 1980 (featuring Lydia Lunch under the pseudonym Stella Rico). Chance re-formed James White and the Blacks with a completely different lineup that appeared on the 1982 album Sax Maniac which was dedicated to Phillips. The group released one more album, Melt Yourself Down, a very limited Japanese release.^{[citation needed]}