James Blunt

James Blunt came from a long line of soldiers in a traditional military family - not one of them being in any way musical whatsoever.  His father considered all music to be ‘unnecessary noise’.  He went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, guarded the Queen and served in Kosovo before realising the army was not for him.

After leaving the army, James Blunt came to fame in 2005 with his single ‘You’re Beautiful’, which became the first song from a British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade in 2006.  This was his third single, his first ‘High’ charting out of the Top 100 and his second ‘Wisemen’ reaching number 44.  ‘You’re Beautiful’ debuted at number 12, but climbed to the top spot where it remained for 5 weeks.  The song also helped propel his debut album Back to Bedlam to the number one album chart position.  He has not been able to achieve the same level of success since, the next best attempt being ‘Goodbye My Lover’ which reached 9 in the UK and just managed 66 in the US chart.