James Blunt (born
James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974), is an
English
singer-songwriter
whose debut album, Back to
Bedlam, and single releases, especially "You're Beautiful", brought him to fame in
2005. His repertoire is a mix of
acoustic-tinged
pop
rock. Recording for
Linda Perry's
independent American label
Custard
Records, Blunt won two
BRIT Awards
and two
Ivor Novello Awards, and
was nominated for five
Grammy Awards
in 2006. He released his second album
All The Lost Souls, in 2007.
Blunt was
an officer in the Life
Guards, a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and served under NATO
in Kosovo
during the
conflict in 1999. While posted to Kosovo, Blunt was
introduced to the work of
Médecins Sans Frontières
(Doctors Without Borders). Since then, Blunt has supported MSF by
holding meet-and-greet auctions at many of his concerts.
Blunt's
primary residence is now on the Spanish
island of
Ibiza
.
Early life
Blunt was
born at an army hospital in Tidworth
, Wiltshire
, England, the first
child born to Jane and Charles Blount. Blunt spent his early
childhood living in England, Cyprus
, and
Germany
, where his father, a Colonel in the British Army Air Corps, and
military helicopter pilot, was posted at various
times.
He has two younger siblings. His father instilled in his son a love
of flying, and Blunt earned his pilot's licence at age 16. The
Blunt family has a long history of military service, dating from
the 10th century.
At age
seven, Blunt was enrolled at Elstree School
, Woolhampton
, before continuing to Harrow School
(Elmfield House) on an army bursary. From Harrow School he gained an
army-sponsored place at the University of Bristol
, where he first studied Aerospace Manufacturing
Engineering and then subsequently read Sociology. He graduated with a BSc(Hons) in
Sociology in 1996.
Military service
As the British Army sponsored his university education, Blunt was
obliged to serve a minimum of four years in the armed forces. James
stated on an interview in his
back to bedlam sessions that
he chose to join the military as
his Father was pushing for
it,so that Blunt could obtain a secure work placement and
income.
Blunt trained at the Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst
. He was commissioned as a
Second Lieutenant in the
Life Guards, a unit of the
Household Cavalry, where he rose to the rank of
Captain.
One of his first assignments was to British Army Training Unit
Suffield in Alberta
, Canada
, where his
squadron was posted for six months in 1998 to act as the opposing army in combat training
exercises.
In 1999, he served as an armoured reconnaissance officer in the
NATO deployment in Kosovo.
Initially assigned to reconnaissance of the
Macedonia
-Yugoslavia
border, Blunt and his unit worked ahead of the
front lines directing forces and targeting Serb
positions for the NATO bombing campaign. He led the first
squadron of troops to enter Prishtina
, and was the first British officer to enter the
Kosovo capital. His unit was given the assignment of
securing the Prishtina airport in advance of the 30,000-strong
peacekeeping force; the Russian army had moved in and taken control
of the airport before his unit's arrival. As the first officer on
the scene, Blunt shared a part in the difficult task of addressing
the potentially violent international incident. There were less
intense moments during Blunt's Kosovo assignment, however. Blunt
had brought along his guitar, strapped to the outside of his tank.
At some places, the peacekeepers would share a meal with hospitable
locals, and Blunt would perform. It was while on duty there that he
wrote the song "
No Bravery".
A keen
skier, Blunt captained the Household Cavalry Alpine Ski Team in
Verbier
, Switzerland
, eventually becoming champion skier of the entire
Royal Armoured Corps. He had extended his military service in
November 2000, and after an intensive six-month army riding course
was posted to the Household Cavalry Mounted
Regiment in London
,
England. During this posting, Blunt was interviewed about
his responsibilities on the television programme "Girls on Top", a
series highlighting unusual career choices. He 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 9 April 2002. Blunt finally left the army on 1
October 2002 having served six years.
Music career
Early career
James Blunt in April 2006
Blunt took piano and violin lessons as a child, but his first
significant exposure to popular music was at Harrow School. There,
he was introduced to the guitar by a fellow student, and started
playing guitar and writing songs at age 14. At Bristol University,
his undergraduate thesis was
The Commodification of Image -
Production of a Pop Idol; one of his main references for the
thesis was
Simon Frith, a sociologist
and rock critic, and current chair of the Mercury Music
Prize.
Blunt left the British Army in 2002 so that he could pursue his
musical career. It was at about that time that he started using the
stage name "Blunt", in part to make it easier for others to spell;
"Blount" is pronounced the same way, and remains his legal surname.
Shortly after leaving the Army, he was signed to
EMI music publishers, and to Twenty-First Artists
management. A record contract remained elusive however, with
recording label executives pointing to Blunt's "
posh" speaking voice as a barrier in class-divided
Britain. Linda Perry, who was just launching her own Custard
Records label 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.
Within a few days,
Blunt signed a recording contract with Perry, and one month later
he was in Los
Angeles
working with producer Tom
Rothrock.
Back to Bedlam
Blunt recorded
Back to
Bedlam in 2003 with producer Tom Rothrock at Rothrock's
home studio, using session musicians and performing on many
different instruments himself. While in Los Angeles, he lodged with
actress
Carrie Fisher, whom he had met
through the family of a former girlfriend. Fisher was very
supportive of Blunt's aspirations, suggesting the name of the album
and providing use of a bathroom in her home for Blunt to record the
song "
Goodbye My Lover".
Back
to Bedlam was finally released in the UK in October
2004.
The debut album from the unknown Blunt attracted little critical
attention, and there were no published reviews from major UK music
journals. His live performances, mainly in support of better known
musicians, received somewhat mixed but generally favourable
reviews. Blunt's 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 1 album, Brit Award
and countless accolade's [sic] will be his for the
taking."
James Blunt's debut single 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. Concert support slots for Elton John and Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
in late 2004 and early 2005 followed, as did a band residency at
London club 93 Feet
East
. In March 2005, his second single, "
Wisemen," was released.
Blunt's third single "
You're
Beautiful" was his breakout hit. The song debuted at number 12
in the UK, and rose 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. 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 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 10 at three radio formats:
Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, and Adult Alternative. Blunt
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". "Goodbye
My Lover" was released as the fourth UK single from the album in
December 2005, and was later the second US single. The songs "High"
and "Wisemen" were subsequently re-released in 2006. Blunt started
off 2006 celebrating five BRIT Award nominations, going on to win
Best British male solo artist and Best pop act categories, having
already started an 11-month tour that would take him around the
world.
There was extensive promotion in the United States starting in the
fall of 2005, with Blunt making 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 (
The O.C.,
Grey's Anatomy and many
more), films (
Undiscovered),
and advertising campaigns (
Hilton
Hotels,
Sprint telecommunications)
throughout 2005 and 2006. Blunt 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 eventually sold 11 million copies and topped the album
charts in 16 territories worldwide. It sold 2.6 million in the U.S.
and was certified 2x platinum. In Britain the album was certified
10x platinum, sold over three million copies, and entered the
Guinness Book of Records for the fastest selling album in one
year.In 2005, Blunt performed in 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 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, Blunt performed
over 140 live shows in 2006. He enjoys the touring experience,
saying in July 2006 that he and his band were having the time of
their lives going to new places every day.
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. In the "
Goodbye My
Lover" video, he is the outsider in a love triangle, imagining
the couple, a man and woman (played by
Matt
Dallas of
Kyle XY and
Mischa Barton of
The
O.C.) together. The re-release video for "High" 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.
Blunt appeared on an episode of
Sesame
Street which aired 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. James Blunt gave
personal permission for this parody to be included on a Weird Al
album, but Atlantic Records, Blunt's record company, stepped in to
forbid the commercial release of the song. Weird Al has since made
the song available as a free MP3 download on his website. In a
request by Yankovic to include the song on an upcoming compilation
CD, Blunt's manager replied via email, "Thanks for your email, but
both James and I will never approve this parody to be released on
any label.".
All the Lost Souls
Blunt's second studio album,
All
the Lost Souls, was released on 17 September 2007 in the
United Kingdom and one day later in North America. It sold 65,000
units in its first week, and was certified gold in the UK after
only four days. By the end of January 2008, the album had sold
600,000 copies in the UK, and 3.5 million copies internationally.
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.
While Blunt’s first album received very little critical attention,
critics from every major music publication, and newspapers around
the world, weighed in on
All the Lost Souls. The album
maintains a 53/100 rating at
Metacritic,
which the website describes as "mixed or average reviews." Eric
Danton, of
The Hartford Courant wrote that the album is "a
collection so bland, it makes hardtack seem sumptuous", while
Rolling Stone said that the album contains "forgettable
ballads that make
Coldplay seem like the
Arctic Monkeys." Yet, in her review
of the album, Kerri Mason of
Billboard said Blunt "shows
the abandon and confidence of a long-term artist, not just a
one-hit wonder". And of the album, Mason wrote, "there is not a
misstep throughout". Equally effusive, Liz Hoggard of
The
Observer wrote that "it’s impossible to resist Blunt’s
troubadour yearning.”
The first
single from All the Lost Souls, "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 the Billboard European Hot 100 Singles chart.
D.J.
Pete Tong remixed "1973" and played
the track during his set at Pacha over the summer of 2007. The
second single, "
Same Mistake", was
released in early December 2007 but did not fare well in the UK
charts, peaking at number 57. It was Number 1 in Brazil and a hit
in many South American countries. The third single from the album
was "
Carry You Home", released in
March 2008, peaking at number 20 in the U.K charts and bringing the
album back into the Top 10, six months after its release. The
fourth and final single from the original "All The Lost Souls"
album was "I Really Want You".
Blunt collaborated twice during this album cycle. In the end of
2007, he worked with French rapper
Sinik. They
released "Je Réalise", which took elements of Blunt's song "I'll
Take Everything", which hit the top 3 in France. On November 14,
2008, "
Primavera in anticipo",
Laura Pausini new album, was released.
The title track is a duet with Blunt. The album reached the Number
1 in Italy.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, Blunt went on his second world tour,
including a performance in London's O2 Arena.
On November 24, 2008,
All The Lost Souls was re-released
as a deluxe edition, with new album artwork, new single "Love,
Love, Love" and the documentary "Return To Kosovo".
Personal life
Blunt says that he has become closer to his family since his
musical success; his father manages his finances, and his mother
arranged for the purchase of his principal residence in Ibiza,
where Blunt has holidayed since he was a teenager.
Blunt also owns a
châlet in the Swiss town of Verbier, which he purchased in February 2007, and he was
named "godfather" of one of the town's new ski lifts.
Blunt was instrumental in introducing his sister to her eventual
husband after offering her for "sale" on
Ebay.
She was having difficulty obtaining transport to a funeral in
Ireland, and Blunt listed her as a "damsel in distress." The winner
provided helicopter transportation. Blunt's sister and the winner
subsequently began a relationship and eventually married.
The musician's social life has been the subject of significant
commentary, particularly in the tabloid press. Blunt himself has
found the degree of interest in his personal life to be bizarre,
stating that "fame and celebrity is something that other people
have constructed that I'm not really party to."
Philanthropy
Blunt has raised funds for
Médecins Sans Frontières
, also known as Doctors Without Borders, through benefit concerts
and by auctioning meet and greet opportunities at his own shows. He
first encountered MSF medical care workers during his tour of duty
in Kosovo, and was impressed with their work despite minimal
support and limited security.
He also supports environmental causes, screening the trailer for
An Inconvenient Truth
at his concerts, and planting a tree for each advance sales concert
ticket purchased through his designated website.
On 7 July 2007, Blunt
performed at the Live Earth concert at
Wembley
Stadium
, London, and is the
owner of one of two prototype electric cars made by Hybrid
Technologies under a Space Act partnership with NASA.
Blunt, a former soldier, is also a patron of
Help for Heroes, a
charity aiming to raise money to
provide better facilities to wounded British
servicemen, and has also held benefit concerts
for this charity.
Discography
Awards
2005
2006
2008
References
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Weird Al Yankovic via Twitter
Further reading
External links
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