James Blunt - Musicians

Summary

"James Blunt" (born "James Hillier Blount", February 221974) is a British singer-songwriter whose debut album, "Back to Bedlam", and single releases - especially the number one hit 'You're Beautiful' - brought him to fame in 2005. His style is a mix of pop, folk and acoustic rock. Along with vocals, James Blunt plays a wide variety of instruments including the piano, guitar, organ, marimba and mellotron. He is signed to Linda Perry's American label Custard Records, and became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when his song 'You're Beautiful' reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. The last British artist to do so had been Elton John in 1997 with the song 'Candle in the Wind 1997'. Blunt won two BRIT Awards and was nominated for five Grammy Awards in 2006.

Early life

Blunt was born in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England. His parents are Charles and Jane Blount. He was educated at Elstree School, Woolhampton, then Harrow School (Elmfield House). From Harrow School he gained an army sponsored place at Bristol University, before finally completing his education at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Blunt's father was a Colonel in the British Army Air Corps, and his family has a long history of military service. The Blount family is also known to have owned and restored Cley Windmill.

Blunt was then a commissioned officer in the Life Guards regiment, a unit of the Household Cavalry of the British Army. He rose to the rank of Captain and served as an armoured reconnaissance officer in the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo. He was put in charge of leading 30,000 troops into Pri?tina as the first British officer to enter the Kosovan capital. It was while on duty in Kosovo that he wrote the song 'No Bravery'. He also stood guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother during the days of her lying in State and was part of the funeral procession on April 92002.

Music career

"Back to Bedlam"

Within a year of leaving the army, Blunt signed to EMI Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter. He soon caught the eye of former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who had written and produced songs for P!nk, Courtney Love and Christina Aguilera. Perry signed him to her new US-based Custard Records label, and Blunt recorded his album, "Back to Bedlam", in Los Angeles with producer Tom Rothrock at Rothrock's home studio, Embassy studios while lodging with actress Carrie Fisher.

James Blunt's debut single, by 'soft release' in the UK was 'High' (co-written with Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue). This song peaked below the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart. However, the song was chosen to appear in a Vodafone commercial in Italy, and was a Top 10 hit in that country. His second single, 'Wisemen', this time properly commercially available, peaked at number forty two, and sent the album into the UK's Top 20 chart. A support slot on Elton John's 2004 tour followed. Blunt's third single 'You're Beautiful' was his breakout hit. The song debuted at number twelve in the UK, and demonstrated a rare trend of upward mobility on the UK charts, rising all the way to the number one position six weeks after its debut. The song also received massive airplay in the UK, which helped propel "Back to Bedlam" to number one on the UK Albums Chart, unseating the record-breaking album "X&Y" by Coldplay from the pole position. After the success of 'You're Beautiful' in the UK, the song crossed over to mainland Europe, becoming one of the biggest hits of summer 2005 across the continent. In the U.S., 'You're Beautiful' made its debut in the summer of 2005 on WPLJ, a prominent radio station in New York City, despite not having been released to radio yet. Once the song was released to radio stations in the fall of 2005, the song climbed into the Top ten at three radio formats: Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, and Adult Alternative, eventually climbing to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

The videos for all of Blunt's singles released from "Back To Bedlam" feature symbolism and dark imagery. In the first video for 'High', he is buried in a desert. In the first video for 'Wisemen', he is kidnapped and taken hostage. In the video for 'You're Beautiful', he alludes to suicide by jumping off a cliff into the sea. The re-release video for 'High' then features Blunt running in a forest. The re-release video for 'Wisemen' has Blunt burning i.d. papers, and then walking through a forest while he is on fire and in 'Goodbye My Lover', he is the outsider in a love triangle, forced to imagine the couple, a man and woman (played by Matt Dallas of "Kyle XY" and Mischa Barton of "The O.C.") together.

On December 32005, James Blunt was the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live". His music has been featured on television programmes throughout the world. He made his acting debut on the TV show "Wildfire", first aired on January 302006. He also appeared in episode 103 of the CBS comedy "Love Monkey" (original air date February 72006). He was interviewed and performed 'You're Beautiful' and 'Goodbye My Lover' on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on March 82006 (taped on February 212006).

In 2005, he performed ninety live shows, mainly across the UK and Europe, ending the year supporting Jason Mraz in a North American tour. The 'Back to Bedlam World Tour' started off in Europe in early January 2006, moving through the UK in February, and then progressing to his first full headlining tour in North America starting in March. In April, Blunt performed several dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan before returning to North America for May, and then starting another UK/European tour in June and July. October and November saw the return of Blunt to North America. In addition to the songs from the "Back to Bedlam" album, Blunt has included several cover songs, including 'Where Is My Mind?' and 'Breakfast in America'. Blunt has also performed several unrecorded original works in live performances.

On July 72007, Blunt performed at the Live Earth concert at Wembley Stadium, London. He performed two of his own songs, 'Wisemen' (from "Back to Bedlam") and 'Same Mistake' (from "All The Lost Souls"). Additionally, he covered Cat Stevens' 'Wild World'.

The album eventually sold 11 million copies worldwide. It was certificated gold and/or platinum in 25 countries. It sold 2.6 million in the US and was certificated 2x platinum. In Britain the album was certificated 10x platinum and sold over 3 million copies. It was the best sold album in 2006 in the world.

"All the Lost Souls"

Blunt's second studio album, "All the Lost Souls", was released on 18 September 2007 in North America, one day after its release in the United Kingdom. It sold 650,000 units in its first week. Blunt completed the album's songs at his home in Ibiza in the winter of 2006-2007. He performed five of the ten album tracks during his 2005-2006 tours; lyrics, melodies, and harmonies were refined for the studio recording, on which his touring band played and Tom Rothrock worked as producer.

The album's first single, '1973', was inspired by Blunt's nights out at Pacha, an Ibiza club, which opened in that year. The song became another hit for Blunt reaching number-one in seven countries and reach the top in the European overall chart. It reached the top ten in twenty-nine countries. The disc jockey Pete Tong remixed '1973' and plays the track during his set at Pacha.

Reactions to success

Blunt initially had little investment from both the independent record label he was signed to, Custard Records, or from his distributors Atlantic Records. Although trading standards authorities forced him to add an explicit lyrics warning to the packaging of his debut album, critics of Blunt have cited 'inoffensive' songs and vast marketing investment as reason to see him more in the mould of a commercial act rather than a genuine singer-songwriter. In 2006, the name James Blunt was entered into the Dictionary of Cockney rhyming slang (a 'right James Blunt') in reference to the word cunt. Blunt is said to have responded, 'John F. Kennedy got an airport named after him - I got my favourite part of the female anatomy'.

According to "The Sun", 'You're Beautiful' has eclipsed Robbie Williams' 'Angels' as the wedding favourite in the United Kingdom.