About James Blunt
James Blunt is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He has released seven albums since 2004 and has sold over 20 million records worldwide.
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 has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, 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 2013, Blunt had sold over 20 million records 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.
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. He 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 read 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 age 16. He also developed a keen interest in motorbikes around this time.
Map & Directions To Venue
