'James Blunt' (born 'James Hillier Blount',
February 22 1974) is an
English 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 rock 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, 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". Blunt won two
BRIT Awards and was nominated for five
Grammy Awards in 2006.
Early life
Blunt was born in
Tidworth,
Wiltshire,
England in 1974 and 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 in the British
Army Air Corps, and his family has a long history of military service. The Blount family (Blunt is the performer's stage name) is also known to have owned and restored
Cley windmill.
[1]
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
Priština as the first British officer to enter the Kosovan capital.
[2] 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 9,
2002.
[3][4]
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
Pink,
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
[5] while lodging with actress
Carrie Fisher.
[1]
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 #42, 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 #12 in the UK, and demonstrated a rare trend of upward mobility on the UK charts, rising all the way to the #1 position six weeks after its debut. The song also received massive airplay in the UK, which helped propel ''
Back to Bedlam'' to #1 on the
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
Autumn of 2005, the song climbed into the Top 10 at three radio formats:
Adult Contemporary,
Adult Top 40, and
Adult Alternative, eventually climbing to number 1 on the
U.S. 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 identification 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 3,
2005, 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 (US)
ABC Family Channel programme ''Wildfire'', first aired on
January 30 2006. He also appeared in episode 103 of the
CBS comedy
Love Monkey (original air date
February 7,
2006). He was interviewed and performed "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover" on the
''Oprah Winfrey Show'' on
March 8,
2006 (taped on
February 21,
2006).
In 2005, he performed 90 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.
[7] 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
7 July,
2007, Blunt performed at the
UK leg of
Live Earth at
Wembley Stadium,
London. He performed two of his own songs, "Wisemen" (from ''Back to Bedlam'') and "Same Mistake" (to be on ''All The Lost Souls''). Additionally, he covered
Cat Stevens' "
Wild World".
All The Lost Souls
James Blunt releases his second studio album on
September 17,
2007 throughout the world, and a day later in North America. Blunt completed the songs for the album at his home in Ibiza through the winter of 2006-07. Five of the ten songs on the album have been performed during his 2005-06 tours; however, lyrics, melodies and harmonies were refined for the studio recording. The album was recorded with his touring band, and Tom Rothrock returned as producer.
The first single from ''All The Lost Souls'' is called "
1973" and was inspired by Blunt's nights out in a club called
Pacha, in
Ibiza, which opened that year. The DJ
Pete Tong, remixed "1973" and plays the track during his set in 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".
[8]
According to ''
The Sun'', "You're Beautiful" has eclipsed
Robbie Williams' "
Angels" as the wedding favourite in the
United Kingdom.
[9]
Discography
Main articles: James Blunt discography
Albums
★ 2004: ''
Back to Bedlam''
★ 2006: ''
(DVD/CD)
★ 2007: ''
All the Lost Souls'' - September 17/18, 2007
[2]
Hit singles
The following singles reached the top twenty in the
United Kingdom and/or
Australia. Their peak positions are shown, along with the peak positions for
Ireland,
Mexico,
Italy , the
United States,
The Netherlands,
Germany and
Canada.
Awards
'''2005'''
★
2005 –
MTV Europe Music Awards- '''Best New Act'''
★ 2005 –
Q Awards - '''Best New Act'''
★ 2005 – Digital Music Awards - '''Best Pop Act'''
'''2006'''
★ 2006 –
NRJ Music Awards (France) - '''Best International Newcomer'''
★ 2006 –
BRIT Awards - '''Best pop act''' and '''Best Male'''
★ 2006 – ECHO Awards (Germany) - '''Best International Newcomer'''
★ 2006 –
NME Awards - '''Worst Album'''
★ 2006 –
MTV Australia Video Music Awards - '''Song of the Year''' for "
You're Beautiful"
★ 2006 –
Ivor Novello Awards - '''Most Performed Work''' and '''International Hit of the Year'''
★ 2006 –
MTV Video Music Awards - '''Best Male Video''' and '''Best Cinematography'''
★ 2006 –
World Music Awards - '''Best New Artist in the World''' and '''Biggest Selling British Artist in the World'''
★ 2006 –
Teen Choice Awards(United States) - '''Choice Music Male Artist'''
References
1. bbc.co.uk
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2005/05/18/music_feature_james_blunt_interview_200505_feature.shtml
3. news.bbc.co.uk
4. news.bbc.co.uk
5. jamesblunt.com
6. bbc.co.uk
7. [1]
8. slate.com
9. canada.com
Further reading
★
''Live from London'' (iTunes EP)
★
TV interview with ''The Hour'' on CBC
★
An interview with a former friend of Blunt's on the ''The Times'' website
★
James Blunt interview and video on andPOP
External links
★
JamesBlunt.com — Official James Blunt
website
★
JamesBlunt.nl — Official Dutch James Blunt
website
★
[3] Monkey King's Amazing Facts -- James Blunt Online Encyclopedia
★
James Blunt at the
Internet Movie Database
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