James Blunt

James Blunt has been denied an invitation to the 2006 NME awards.

The singer-songwriter was deemed “too dull” for organisers to invite, according to the Daily Star.

“There was a lot of talk about James Blunt and the Kaiser Chiefs after their Brits nominations,” explained a source. “But while the Chiefs are A-List guests for the NME bash, James was considered too dull. Some feared it wouldn’t be long before some of the gobbier rock stars hit out at Blunt.”

Ex-bodyguard and army captain Blunt has thus far not commented on the story.

POP hunk James Blunt routed a masked raider — by braining him with a music award he had just collected.The singer, 30, grabbed the gong after he woke up to discover the robber in his hotel room at 5am.

Ex-Army captain James, who had won Best Newcomer at the French NRJ Radio awards, smashed him over the head with it.

He said yesterday: “It’s a big, solid lump, so I picked it up and whacked him. He then threw himself off the balcony and ran away.”

James, who had 2005’s top-selling album with Back To Bedlam, was in Cannes when the burglar got in through his window at the exclusive seafront Martinez Hotel.

James — a former Household Cavalryman — told how he jumped out of bed. He said: “I had just picked up an award for Best Newcomer at the NRJ awards.

“It was pitch black in the room so I couldn’t really see anything.

“I was looking for a phone to ring downstairs, or for an emergency button to push. But the only thing I could find was my NRJ award.”

The singer went on: “He wasn’t looking for me in particular — it was completely random.

“He must have climbed up some scaffolding, over the balcony and climbed in through my window.”

Last night James, who alerted hotel staff, was in Austria as part of his nine-month world tour.

His single You’re Beautiful — which was No1 for five weeks in the UK — is currently at No8 in the US charts.

James will perform at next month’s Brit Awards, where he is up for five gongs — Best Pop Act, Best Male, Best Single, Best Album and British Breakthrough.

He joked: “It would be good to win a Brit Award — you never know when it might come in handy to use on burglars.”

Organisers of this year’s eagerly-anticipated Brit Awards have been forced into drawing up a contingency plan after one of their key proposed acts spectacularly fell apart.

Brit bigwigs were planning on arranging a massive duet between Modfather Paul Weller, who is receiving an outstanding contribution to music award, and popular newcomer James Blunt.

However, the former Jam lead has informed event chiefs, in no uncertain terms, that he is not prepared to perform alongside the You’re Beautiful crooner.

‘I’d rather eat my own s**t than duet with James Blunt,’ Weller is reported as saying.

His record company V2 echoed Weller’s sentiments, albeit in slightly different words.

‘James isn’t exactly the coolest singer around at the moment,’ a V2 spokesperson said. ‘He’s the last person Paul would sing with.’

This latest knockback, while disrupting organisers’ plans, is perfectly in keeping with the Brits somewhat acrimonious past and many are now predicting a reappearance of fireworks between attendees come February 15th at London’s Earl’s Court.

NEW YORK - Linda Perry, the prolific producer and songwriter for Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and others, was in London to get a jolt of inspiration from the city’s trendsetting music scene when a friend slipped her a demo from an unknown singer-songwriter.

It was poorly produced and Perry deemed it mediocre as a whole. Yet the scratchy tenor and lyrical content left Perry transfixed when she heard it three years ago.

“Anybody with an ear could hear that this guy was amazing,” says Perry, who maintained her poker face while she was listening but recalls “kicking my manager under the table like, ‘Oh my God!’ ”

Now the rest of the world knows why Perry was so riveted. The singer on that demo, James Blunt (whom Perry signed to her fledgling label) has become music’s latest It Boy due to his soulful, stirring single, “You’re Beautiful.” The ballad, about a split-second encounter with a stunning woman that leaves him wondering what might have been, became a mainstay on adult contemporary formats before crossing over to top 40 radio, where it has become a top 20 hit.

“Every time we play it, we get phone calls and messages asking, ‘Who is it?’ ” says Sharon Dastur, the assistant program director at pop station WHTZ-FM (Z-100) in New York City. “It’s just one of those songs that people are just so drawn to that people want to keep hearing it.”

But Blunt doesn’t want people to get too caught up in “You’re Beautiful” - because he thinks his debut album, “Back to Bedlam,” has a lot more to offer. (more…)

The U.K. singer-songwriter had England’s biggest hit single in 2005. Now he’s ready to take America.

On July 10th, 2005, James Blunt was in Switzerland when he got the call saying that his debut album, Back to Bedlam, and his smash hit “You’re Beautiful” had catapulted past Coldplay to the Number One slot on the British pop charts. “I spent the afternoon going, ‘Fuck,’” says Blunt, 28, who organized a proper champagne toast on the roof of a Holiday Inn. “My band turned up a couple hours later, and they spent the rest of the afternoon going ‘Fuck’ as well.” “You’re Beautiful” — written about an ex-lover he spied in the London underground with a new man — soon stormed the U.S. charts as well, and the album jumped to the Top Twenty in early January. In addition to songs about lost love, Blunt lends his gravelly voice — which at times sounds like a young Rod Stewart’s — to tunes like “No Bravery” and “Cry” that reflect on his four-year stint in the British army, during which he served in the war in Kosovo. But he doesn’t get into specifics. “The ideas I’m writing about are ideas that any human being should be able to relate to,” says Blunt, whose speaking voice sounds weirdly like Star Wars’ C-3PO. (Incidentally, Carrie “Princess Leia” Fisher was an early fan and housed Blunt while he recorded Bedlam in Los Angeles.) Blunt checks in from Lyon, France, at the start of a seven-month world tour that hits the States in March.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Being forced to take up the violin by my mother when I was five, and taken to class with a whole group of other children. We were made to dance around some hot-cross buns, playing the tune “Hot-Cross Buns” — it’s an English thing. (more…)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former British soldier turned pop star James Blunt on Wednesday broke through to the Top 10 album sales charts 16 weeks after the U.S. release of his debut album, “Back to Bedlam.”

Blunt’s ballad-heavy CD rose from 13th place to 9th in U.S. album sales, selling 41,000 units for the week ended January 22, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Blunt’s album, released by Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Records, was already a massive hit in Europe. Released in Britain in October 2004, it spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the nation’s album chart and now ranks as the best-selling album in England for 2005. Prior to Blunt’s ascension to the Top 10 on Wednesday, the album had spent 16 weeks among the top 100 U.S. albums.

The former cavalryman’s CD is quickly mounting a strong offensive for U.S. audiences with singles, “You’re Beautiful” and “No Bravery,” the latter inspired by Blunt’s military service.

Blunt, who comes from a military family, drew from various life experiences, including his stint in the army serving as part of a peacekeeping unit in Kosovo.

According to his Web site, Blunt was sleeping off a hangover at the back of a university sociology lecture hall when the next thing he knew he was in Kosovo with a gun and a guitar strapped to the side of tank.

Higher up on the U.S. album chart this week, Jamie Foxx’s “Unpredictable” climbed back to No. 1, selling about 97,000 units, switching places with Mary J. Blige’s “Breakthrough,” which sold about 95,000 units.

Rapper Eminem’s hits compilation “Curtain Call” ranked third with 74,000 units, followed by “American Idol” diva Carrie Underwood’s “Some Hearts” at the No. 4 spot with 73,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The late Johnny Cash’s retrospective “The Legend of Johnny Cash” jumped five places to No. 5, boosted by a strong showing at the Golden Globes by the Cash film “Walk the Line.”

The Cash CD sold 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Total U.S. album sales rose 1 percent over the previous week at 9.5 million units, but fell 1 percent from the same period a year ago. Sales for 2006 exceed sales from the same period in 2005 by about 2 percent at 30.3 million units.

Singer James Blunt has agreed to perform at the Brit Awards with Paul Weller, after Oasis reportedly pulled out of the show.

The Brit rockers had apparently agreed to take to the stage with “Modfather” Weller to perform songs with him.

But rumours suggest that the Gallagher brothers changed their mind when the nominations were announced.

Oasis are up for awards in two categories.

Blunt’s biggest hit to date was You’re Beautiful, which hit the number one spot last year.

The awards will take place at London’s Earl’s Court later this year.

The James-Blunt.Net Photo Gallery is now open!.  We have a large selection of James Blunt photos from many events and performances, and our colection will only grow over time. visit the Photo Gallery!

We even have the very latest photos from yesterday of James at the 2006 NRJ Music Awards at Midem - Arrivals - January 21, 2006

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NEW YORK (AP) - Linda Perry, the prolific producer and songwriter for Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and others, was in London to get a jolt of inspiration from the city’s trendsetting music scene when a friend slipped her a demo from an unknown singer-songwriter.

It was poorly produced and Perry deemed it mediocre as a whole. Yet the scratchy tenor and lyrical content left Perry transfixed when she heard it three years ago.

“Anybody with an ear could hear that this guy was amazing,” says Perry, who maintained her poker face while she was listening but recalls “kicking my manager under the table like, ‘Oh my God!”‘

Now the rest of the world knows why Perry was so riveted. The singer on that demo, James Blunt (whom Perry signed to her fledgling label) has become music’s latest It Boy due to his soulful, stirring single, You’re Beautiful. The ballad, about a split-second encounter with a stunning woman that leaves him wondering what might have been, became a mainstay on adult contemporary formats before crossing over to top 40 radio, where it has become a top 20 hit.

“Every time we play it, we get phone calls and messages asking, ‘Who is it?”‘ says Sharon Dastur, the assistant program director at pop station WHTZ-FM (Z-100) in New York City. “It’s just one of those songs that people are just so drawn to that people want to keep hearing it.” (more…)

Blunt comes from a long line of men who have served in one kind of army of another since 995 A.D., “a long line of warriors,” according to Blunt’s official web site. Blunt, like all the men in his family before him, served his country. But unlike his career colonel father and grandfather, Blunt dropped out of the army after completing his necessary four years to become a musician. Music had always been his passion, but his appreciation for it was not considered admirable by his father, according to his official web site.

“My dad was really practical, and saw music as just noise. The only CD player was in the car, and we had just three CDs - ‘American Pie,’ and a couple of Beach Boys ones,” Blunt said, according to his official web site.

While in school, Blunt learned to play the piano, and at 14 first played his friend’s guitar. He wrote his first song after listening to Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” according to his web site.

“His voice is unique from other people who are in the same genre as him,” said Amy Mendelson, a 7th-semester urban studies and journalism major. “His experiences give him an edge, something different to sing about. I like his lyrics.” (more…)

James Blunt`s ‘Back To Bedlam’ (Atlantic) is back to the top of European Top 100 Albums. As the English singer-songwriter climbs ever nearer to the top ten of The Billboard 200, this week moving from 16 to 13, he regains the European summit. He previously reached the European chart peak for one week in October, after 11 consecutive weeks at No. 2.

The return to No. 1 is fuelled by strong chart performances in numerous European territories. ‘Bedlam’ makes a 2 to 1 move in the United Kingdom, where the album is in its 41st chart week and now has total sales of 2.4 million, according to Official U.K. Charts Company data. It narrowly outsells last week`s U.K. No. 1, the Strokes` ‘First Impressions of Earth’ (Rough Trade), which slips to No. 2. ‘Bedlam’ also rises from 3 to 1 in Ireland, from 7 to 2 in Sweden, from 4 to 3 in Germany, from 9 to 5 in Holland and from 6 to 5 in Portugal.

Birmingham-based rock quartet Editors is coming up fast on the rails in the United Kingdom with ‘The Back Room’ (Kitchenware), rising from 10 to 3 on weekly sales of 24,000 copies, prompting a 63 to 11 leap on Top 100 Albums. The band is currently in the United States, where it played Popscene in San Francisco Thursday night (Jan. 19), with two sold-out shows in New York to come over the weekend. A 31-date European itinerary begins Jan. 26 in Lille, France. (more…)

James Blunt hit the US touring circuit with more than his share of peculiarities to create interest aside from his big-time debut record and cache of catchy songs. Among them an education, a military background, and a best friend in Carrie Fisher. Blunt’s manner is actually of the sort you’d expect from your own best friend — he’s charming and funny, eloquent and honest, and has absolutely no problem calling you out if he thinks you’ve put a conversational foot wrong. Early in our chat, I asked him how he was feeling as a new artist seeking America’s embrace — was he nervous at the thought of “cracking” the world’s premier music scene? He responded: “I don’t consider trying to ‘crack America’ — it’s a really bad term, in terms of breaking other people. It seems really mean. So, I think it should be avoided.” His directness had me thinking he’d answered this one before. A lot.

My mistake. Still, it’s hard not to think of succeeding in the States in such harsh terms. It can’t be easy, and so many of Blunt’s countrymen have failed where he has — since our chat — succeeded (Blunt’s album, as of the new year, was in Amazon’s 20 bestsellers). But Blunt’s not about harshness. That’s obvious not only from his soft-spoken phone manner, but the silky collection of songs that comprise his mega-successful debut, Back to Bedlam. The highest selling UK record of last year and a chart-topper around the world, Bedlam reveals Blunt perfectly. He’s a romantic, with all the vulnerabilities of a guy struggling to understand love’s machinations. But, too, he’s a world-traveler with cross-cultural sensibilities, and a talent for delicate, real imagery (”I kissed your lips and held your head”, he sings in “Goodbye My Lover”). He’s earnest without being overly sentimental. And, as I discovered him to be, appropriately up front. His “No Bravery” paints pictures of war only a soldier can know, and songs “Out of My Mind” and “Goodbye My Lover” present scarred notions of love to upset “You’re Beautiful”’s tenderness. (more…)