James Blunt Biography, Top Songs, Wife & Net Worth
Fully named James Hillier Blount was born on February 22, 1974, and would quickly become better known as James Blunt, his stage name. He is one of the more famous English songwriter-singers, a record producer, as well as an ex-Officer who served in the British Army.
Having his big rise to stardom back in 2004, Blunt was able to elevate his music career with the release of his then debut album titled ‘Back to Bedlam.’ This album would eventually go on to achieve fame worldwide with the smash hit singles that included ‘You’re Beautiful’, as well as ‘Goodbye My Lover’. The album actually did so well, that it was able to sell over 11 million copies across the globe, and even landed at the top of the UK Albums chart and even peaked at the number two spot on the US charts.
As if that weren’t good enough, the hit single, You’re Beautiful, was able to top the charts at the number one spot in both the UK, as well as the US, and even a dozen or so other countries too. Due to its popularity, Blunt’s album, Back to Bedlam, was the absolute top-selling album in the UK for all of the 2000’s, as well as one of the absolute bestselling albums of all time in the UK charts.
To date, throughout James Blunt’s entire career, he has been able to sell more than 20 million albums worldwide. He has been privileged to receive several different types of awards, some of which include two Ivor Novella Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, five Grammy nominations, and two Brit Awards, one of which was for being the Best British Male of the year in 2006.
Prior to becoming a music superstar, Blunt was actually a reconnaissance officer for the Life Guards, served under NATO during the Kosovo War back in 1999, and was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. He would eventually go on to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate for Music during the 2016 year, which was awarded to him by the University of Bristol.
James Blunt, the Early Years
Born on February 22, 1974 as James Hillier Blount, James was actually birthed in a army hospital in the town of Tidworth, which is located in Hampshire county and would later become part of Wiltshire county. He has two siblings, but Blunt is the oldest of the three. His father, Colonel Charles Blount, was a very respected cavalry officer with the Royal Hussars, and would eventually become a helicopter pilot, and later a colonel in the Army Air Corps. His mother would also lead a successful life, starting a ski chalet company in the mountains of Meribel. What makes them so special as a family is the fact that they have a very long history of serving in the military, having ancestors who served in England back during the 10th century.
Having grown up in St Mary Bourne, which is located in Hampshire, James and his siblings would pack up and move roughly every two years, all of which was dependent upon his father’s military stations. Some of these places included:
- Middle Wallop
- Cyprus
- Soest in Germany
- York
- Netheravon
He would also end up spending some time out in Cley next the Sea, as his father was the owner of Cley Windmill.
Even with all of the moving around during his younger years, James was still able to get his education from the Elstree School that is located in Woolhampton, Berkshire, as well as the Harrow School, where he was able to gain A-levels in Economics, Physics, and Chemistry. He would eventually go on to study Sociology and Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering, getting his degree in Sociology in 1996 from the University of Bristol.
Once graduating from school, James would go on to become a pilot like his father, achieving a fixed wing private pilot license by the age of just 16 years old. Even though he became a pilot, he has always had a big interest motorcycles.
James Blunt’s Military Career
Having been sponsored into Bristol University with a army bursary, after graduating, Blunt was obligated to serve at lease four years within the British armed forces, which he would. Having his training at the Royal Military Academy, located in Sandhurst, he would then be commissioned to be a part of the Life Guards, which is one of their reconnaissance regiments. During his time there, he would go on to climb the ranks, eventually rising all the way to captain.
Having enjoyed his time serving so much, Blunt would then go on to extend his service time in November of 2000, which he would then be sent to London as one of the Queen’s Guards. It was at this time that Blunt would make some very odd career choices, one of which was being featured on ‘Girls on Top’, a British television program at the time. Still serving as one of the Queen’s Guards, Blunt would eventually play a part in the funeral procession of the Queen Mother, which took place on April 9, 2002.
He would go on to part ways from the army on October 1, 2002, after successfully serving six years and ready to start a new adventure in the form of his music career.
James Blunt’s Music Career
Having grown up taking both violin and piano lessons when he was just a child, Blunt was introduced to his very first electric guitar at the age of just 14 years old by a fellow Harrow student. From that day on Blunt would play the electric guitar and would even spend a significant amount of time writing songs when he was in the army and had some spare time. A while later, but while Blunt was still an active soldier in the military, a songwriting collaborator told Blunt that he should contact the music manager of Elton John, Todd Interland.
What happened next is almost like something out of a movie. While Interland was driving home and listening to Blunt’s demo tape, as soon as the song ‘Goodbye My Lover’, played, he immediately pulled his car over and phoned the number that was handwritten onto the disc so that he would be able to set up a meeting.
After leaving the army in 2002, Blunt than decided that he was going to pursue his music career. This is the time that he started to use his stage name, ‘Blunt’, in order to make it easier for other people to spell. His real name, Blount, while spelled differently, is actually pronounced the same exact way and continues to be his real name to this day. Soon after he left the army, Blunt was able to sign with the record label EMI music publishers, as well as Twenty-First Artists management. While he was headed in the right direction, Blunt would not find himself signing any type of record deal until the early part of 2003. This is due to the record label execs mentioning that Blunt’s voice was simply too posh.
However, Linda Perry was in the middle of starting her own record label and just happened to come across Blunt’s song. She would then hear him playing live at the South by Southwest Music Festival, and would have him sign with her up can coming record label that very same night. Once he did, Blunt was of to Los Angeles so that he would be able to meet his new producer, Tom Rothrock.
After finishing his debut album in 2003, ‘Back to Bedlam’, it would go on to eventually be released about one year later in the UK. His very first single, titled ‘High’, would top out and barely make it into the Top 75. Two singles later, the song ‘you’re Beautiful’, would be released and debut all the way near the top of the list at the 12 spot in the UK. It would eventually go on to climb to the very top of the list and hit number one. This song was such a big hit that it would even top the US charts as well in 2006. This is a very big achievement, as it would make Blunt the very first Britain musician to reach the number one spot in the US in nearly a full decade. The song would then go on and win two MTV Video Music Awards and even began doing TV appearances on television shows and talk shows. He would end up being nominated for a total of five Grammys during the 49th Grammy Awards show, as well as go on to sell a total of eleven million copies worldwide and go platinum ten times in Britain.
His next album, ‘All the Lost Souls’, would not take as long to become a huge success reaching gold status in just four days, and selling over four million copies worldwide.
To follow that album up, Blunt would release a third album titled ‘Some Kind of Trouble’, in the year 2010, as well as a fourth album in 2013 that was titled ‘Moon Landing’. All in all, James Blunt’s music career would amass him a wealth of over $18 million.
While many successful musicians become famous and then stop, Blunt has done the complete opposite. In fact, Blunt has gone out of his way to be involved with several different charitable efforts, the likes of which include holding concerts to raise money and awareness for Help for Heroes, as well as perform at the Live Earth concert.
While James Blunt has had one amazing music career, his personal life has been almost as impressive. This is mainly in part to his Blunt’s wife, Sofia Wellesley. In fact, Blunt and his wife Wellesley were even in attendance at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding. This was actually not a very big surprise however, as both Blunt and Prince Harry had been a longtime friend who served in the Army together while growing up. While there were some who actually questioned his attendance, most were in disbelief as his plus one, his wife of four years, stunned everyone with how gorgeous she was.
Having celebrated their own big day back in 2014, they have actually done something that most people will never get a chance too. They actually celebrated their big day twice!
Sofia, who is the daughter of Lord john Henry Wellesly, as well as one of the only grand daughters to the eight Duke of Wellington, were originally married in private on September 5, at a London registry office. Later in the month, on the 19th, they would fly to Majorca to celebrate their wedding at Sofia’s parent’s family home with only their close friends and family.
Sofia, who is 10 years the younger of her husband James, have been in a relationship since 2012. They would soon after become engaged in 2013, and then welcome their first child together, a son, in the year of 2016. While their son’s name has been kept private from the media, it was confirmed by Ed Sheeran that he was actually the boy’s godfather.
As for Blunt’s wife, Sofia, she graduated from the prestigious law school Edinburgh University and is currently working at a very successful law firm that is based out of London. In 2016, all of her hard work for the firm would payoff, as she would be promoted the board of Cherie’s legal consultancy.
All in all, James Blunt has had an amazing career that has amassed him a wealth of over $18 million, would land him the wife of his dreams in Sofia Wellesly who would turn their relationship into a family and have some of the most well-known friends as well. There is actually some talk going around that Blunt is currently working on another studio album, however, there has been no type of confirmation of any kind to verify these claims. All that can be said is if or when he does launch another album, it is surely to do just as well as his past albums have.
James Blunt Net Worth
How much is James Blunt worth? His estimated net worth is $18 Million Dollars.
