James Blunt
James Blunt is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover".
As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt was involved in the British refusal to engage Russian troops at Pristina Airport. After leaving the army, he rose to fame in 2004 with the release of his debut album Back to Bedlam, achieving worldwide fame with the singles "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover". His first album had sold over 12 million copies worldwide by December 2009, topping the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number two in the US. "You're Beautiful" reached number one in thirteen countries, including the UK and the US. Back to Bedlam was the best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK, and is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.
Blunt's second album, All the Lost Souls, released in 2007, reached number one in twelve countries. He went on to release a further five albums, at intervals of approximately three years: Some Kind of Trouble, Moon Landing, The Afterlove, Once Upon a Mind and Who We Used to Be.
As of 2021, Blunt had sold over 23 million albums worldwide. He has received several awards, including two Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 2006—two MTV Video Music Awards and two Ivor Novello Awards, as well as receiving five Grammy Award nominations and an Honorary Doctorate of Music in 2016 from the University of Bristol.
Early life and education
Blunt was born James Hillier Blount on 22 February 1974 at Tidworth Camp military hospital, then in Hampshire, England. His mother, Jane Ann Farran, started a ski chalet company in the French Alpine resort of Méribel, while his father, Charles Blount, was a cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and then a helicopter pilot, becoming a colonel in the Army Air Corps. Blunt is the first of three children, with two sisters. The family has a long history of military service, dating back to the 10th-century arrival of their Danish ancestors in England.Blunt grew up primarily in St Mary Bourne but moved every two years according to his father's military postings around England as well as Cyprus and Germany. He also spent time in Cley-next-the-Sea, where his father owned the Cley Windmill. Blunt was educated at Elstree School and then Harrow School, gaining A-levels in physics, chemistry and economics. He then went to the University of Bristol, where he studied Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering and Sociology, graduating in 1996 with a BSc.
Like his father, he is a pilot and gained his fixed-winged private pilot licence at the age of 16. He also developed a keen interest in motorbikes around this time.
Military service
Having been sponsored through university on an army bursary, Blunt was required to serve a minimum of four years in the armed forces. He trained at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in intake 963 and was commissioned into the Life Guards. He rose to the rank of captain. The Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, were primarily based in Combermere Barracks. Blunt trained in British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, Canada, where his regiment was posted for six months in 1998 to act as the opposing army in combat training exercises.In 1999, Blunt volunteered to join a squadron of the Blues and Royals who deployed with NATO to Kosovo. Initially assigned to carry out reconnaissance of the Macedonia–FR Yugoslavia border, Blunt's troop worked ahead of the front lines, locating and targeting Serbian forces for the NATO bombing campaign. On 12 June 1999, the troop led the 30,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force from the Macedonia border towards Pristina International Airport. However, a Russian military contingent had moved in and taken control of the airport before his unit's arrival. American NATO commander Wesley Clark ordered that the unit forcibly take the airport from the Russians. Blunt allegedly questioned the order and General Mike Jackson, the British commander, refused the order, telling Clark that they were "not going to start World War Three for you". Blunt has said that he would have refused to obey such an order if Jackson had not blocked it.
During Blunt's Kosovo assignment, he had taken along his guitar strapped to the outside of his tank and would sometimes perform for locals and troops. While on duty there he wrote the song "No Bravery". Blunt extended his military service in November 2000 and was posted to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in London, as a member of the Queen's Guard. During this posting, he was featured on the television programme Girls on Top, a series highlighting unusual career choices. He stood guard at the coffin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother during her lying in state and was part of the associated funeral procession on 9 April 2002.
A keen skier, Blunt captained the Household Cavalry alpine ski team in Verbier, Switzerland, becoming the Royal Armoured Corps giant slalom champion in 2000. He left the army on 1 October 2002 having served six years.
Music career
Early career
Blunt had piano and violin lessons as a child but was introduced to the electric guitar aged 14 at Harrow by a fellow student. His dissertation at the University of Bristol was entitled The Commodification of Image – Production of a Pop Idol. One of his sources was Simon Frith, a sociologist and rock critic, and chair of the Mercury Music Prize panel of judges since 1992, who later undertook a lecture tour entitled "The unpopular and unpleasant thoughts inspired by the work of James Blunt".While still in the army, Blunt would write songs during his time off. A backing vocalist and songwriting collaborator suggested he contact Elton John's manager, Todd Interland, with whom she used to share a house. Interland told HitQuarters that he listened to Blunt's demo while driving home and, after hearing the track "Goodbye My Lover", pulled over and called the mobile number written on the CD to set up a meeting.
Blunt left the British Army in 2002 so that he could pursue his musical career. He started using the stage name "James Blunt" in part to make it easier for others to spell; "Blount" is pronounced the same way, and remains his legal last name. Shortly after leaving the army he was signed to EMI music publishers and to Twenty-First Artists management. A record contract remained elusive, with label executives pointing to his posh speaking voice as a barrier in class-divided Britain. Linda Perry, who was just launching her own label Custard Records in early 2003, heard Blunt's promotional tape when visiting London, and soon after heard him perform live at the South by Southwest Music Festival. She made an offer to him the same night, and within a few days he signed a recording contract with her. A month later, he travelled to Los Angeles to meet producer Tom Rothrock.
2003–2006: ''Back to Bedlam''
Blunt recorded Back to Bedlam in 2003 with Rothrock as producer in Conway Recording Studios at Rothrock's home studio in Los Angeles, playing many instruments himself. During recording, he lodged with actress Carrie Fisher. Fisher contributed in naming the album, and he recorded the song "Goodbye My Lover" in her bathroom. Back to Bedlam was released in the UK in October 2004.Blunt's debut single in the UK was "High". This song initially peaked below the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart; after the subsequent success of "You're Beautiful" it made the Top 75 before being re-released. The song was chosen to appear in a Vodafone commercial in Italy, and was a Top 10 hit in that country.
The debut album from the unknown Blunt initially attracted little critical attention; there were no published reviews from major UK music journals. His live performances, mainly in support of better-known musicians, received generally favourable reviews. His lack of performing experience and inconsistent approach with audiences was commented upon, while his music was likened to that of Damien Rice and David Gray.
In March 2004, with Blunt performing in the support role for Katie Melua in Manchester, Alex McCann of Designer Magazine wrote, "Blunt's ascendance is a dead cert and this time next year it isn't that far removed from reality to suggest that a number one album, Brit Award and countless accolade's
Blunt's third single, "You're Beautiful", was his break-out hit. The song debuted at number 12 in the UK, and reached number one six weeks later. The song received huge airplay in the UK, propelling Back to Bedlam to number one on the UK Albums Chart. The extensive airplay ultimately led to Blunt and his co-writers being awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work.
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 US, "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. The song was released to radio stations in the autumn of 2005 and climbed into the Top 10 in three radio formats: Adult Contemporary Music, Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks, and Adult album alternative.
Blunt became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when "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".
"Goodbye My Lover" was released as the fourth UK single from the album in December 2005, and the second US single. The songs "High" and "Wisemen" were subsequently re-released in 2006. Blunt began 2006 celebrating five Brit Award nominations, and went on to win Best British male solo artist and Best pop act categories, having already started an 11-month world tour. On 31 August 2006, he won two awards at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, with "You're Beautiful" winning the award for Best Male Video.
In late 2005, Blunt made appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Eight of the songs on the album were featured in television shows, films, and advertising campaigns throughout 2005 and 2006. He performed "You're Beautiful" at the 49th Grammy Awards in February 2007, dedicating the song to the late Ahmet Ertegün of Atlantic Records, but he did not win in any of the five categories for which he had received nominations.
The album sold 11.2 million copies and topped the album charts in 16 territories worldwide. It sold 2.6 million in the US and was certified 2× platinum. In Britain the album sold over three million copies, was certified 10× platinum, and entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest selling album in one year.
In 2005, Blunt performed 90 live shows, mainly across the UK and Europe, and supported Jason Mraz in a North American tour. The "Back to Bedlam World Tour" started off in January 2006, covering cities in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, as well as three separate headline tours in North America, ending in November of that year. Not including promotional appearances, he performed over 140 live shows in 2006.
The videos for all of Blunt's singles 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. In the "Goodbye My Lover" video, he is the outsider in a love triangle, imagining the couple, a man and woman together. The re-release video for "High" features Blunt running in a forest. The re-release video for "Wisemen" has him burning identification papers, and then walking through a forest while he is on fire.
Blunt appeared on an episode of Sesame Street which aired on 14 November 2007, singing about triangles to the tune of "You're Beautiful". A parody of "You're Beautiful" titled "You're Pitiful" was recorded by Weird Al Yankovic. According to Yankovic, Blunt gave his personal permission for the parody to be included on a Weird Al album before it was formally recorded, but Atlantic Records, Blunt's label, stepped in to forbid the commercial release of the song. Yankovic has since made the song available as a free MP3 download on his website. Yankovic tweeted a quote that was apparently from a message by Blunt's manager, saying "Thanks for your email, but both James and I will never approve this parody to be released on any label."
On 28 December 2009, BBC Radio 1 announced that Back to Bedlam was the biggest-selling album of the 2000s decade in the United Kingdom.