James Blunt

James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician.

Blunt was born James Hillier Blount on 22 February 1974 at Tidworth Camp military hospital, then in Hampshire.

He then went to the University of Bristol, where he read aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology, graduating in 1996 with a BSc (Hons).

In March 2022, Blunt was the subject of 'James Blunt: From A to Z', broadcast by Burst Radio, Bristol University's radio station.

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.

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.

While on duty there he wrote the song "No Bravery".

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 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.

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 stood guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon during her lying in state and was part of the associated funeral procession on 9 April 2002.

He left the army on 1 October 2002 having served six years.

He has released seven albums since 2004 and has sold over 20 million records worldwide.

After serving as an officer in the British Army, Blunt 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.

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'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: Some Kind of Trouble (2010), Moon Landing (2013), The Afterlove (2017), Once Upon a Mind (2019) and Who We Used to Be (2023).

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 (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.

Blunt was educated at Elstree School in Woolhampton and then Harrow School in Harrow on the Hill, gaining A-levels in physics, chemistry, and economics.

Blunt has sold over 20 million records worldwide, as of 2013.

His mother, Jane Ann Farran (Amos), 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.