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James Hillier Blount (born 22 February 1974), better known as James Blunt, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After leaving the military, 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”.
Blunt’s first album has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, topping the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number two in the US. “You’re Beautiful” was number one in the UK, the US and a dozen other countries. 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. By 2013, Blunt had sold over 20 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 for Music in 2016 from the University of Bristol.
Early life
Blunt was born James Hillier Blount on 22 February 1974 at an army hospital in Tidworth, Hampshire, the first of three children born to Jane Ann Farran (née Amos) and Colonel Charles Blount.His mother started up a ski chalet company in the French town of Méribel, while his father was a cavalry officer in the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and then a helicopter pilot and colonel of the Army Air Corps.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, Hampshire, but moved every two years depending on his father’s military postings around England (Middle Wallop, Netheravon, and York) as well as Cyprus (Nicosia) and Germany (Soest). He also spent time in Cley next the Sea, where his father owned the Cley Windmill. He was educated at Elstree School in Woolhampton and then Harrow School in the Harrow on the Hill area of London, gaining A-levels in physics, chemistry, and economics. He went on to study aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology at the University of Bristol,graduating in 1996 with a BSc (Hons) in sociology.In March 2022 he was the subject of ‘James Blunt: From A to Z’, broadcast by Burst Radio, Bristol University’s radio station. Like his father, Blunt 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.
Military service
Having been sponsored through university on an army bursary, Blunt was committed 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, a reconnaissance regiment. He rose to the rank of captain. The Life Guards, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, were primarily based in Combermere Barracks. Blunt was 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 Blues and Royals squadron deploying with NATO to Kosovo. Initially assigned to carry out reconnaissance of the North Macedonia–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 North 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. 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 General Jackson had not blocked it.
During Blunt’s Kosovo assignment, he had brought along his guitar strapped to the outside of his tank and would sometimes perform for locals and troops. It was while on duty there that 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 the Queen Mother during her lying in state and was part of the 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
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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 Bristol University 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 “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 recording label executives pointing to his 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. 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.
Personal life
Blunt primarily resides on the Spanish island of Ibiza.He also owns a chalet in the Swiss village of Verbier, where he has a ski lift named after him. In 2012, alongside motorcycle racer Carl Fogarty and rugby player Lawrence Dallaglio, he opened a restaurant at the top of the ski lift called La Vache.The same year, he was a victim of the News International phone hacking affair, and filed for damages in a civil case.
On 6 September 2014, Blunt married Sofia Wellesley, the granddaughter of Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington. Blunt and Wellesley have two sons; the godfather of their elder son is Ed Sheeran and the godmother was Carrie Fisher.
Blunt received the honorary title of Doctor of Music from the University of Bristol in 2016.
Blunt is an active user of Twitter with over two million followers and a feed notable for self-deprecating humour. In 2020, Constable published a compendium of his tweets as a book called How to Be a Complete and Utter Blunt: Diary of a Reluctant Social Media Sensation.
