HE'S one of the top-selling recording artists of the year, a huge star around the globe, a multiple award-winner and the boyfriend of a supermodel.
And James Blunt seems genuinely grateful for all of it.
"The whole journey has been pretty phenomenal," the soft-spoken singer said during a recent stop in Toronto as part of a Canadian tour that stops in Winnipeg on Oct. 31 at the MTS Centre. "I think I'm still probably in a state of shock.
"I do music around the world and I never thought I'd be even saying those words. So I'm just really lucky."
You almost want to forgive him for giving us the ubiquitous hit of the year, You're Beautiful.
An army brat, he was born James Hillier Blount 32 years ago in the small English town of Tidworth. After bouncing between schools, he landed at Bristol University as a guest of the army -- then studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Blunt was made an officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British army. After rising to the rank of captain, he was deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo, where he served as an armoured reconnaissance officer in the NATO peacekeeping force.
The experience inspired him to pen No Bravery, a song that appears on Blunt's debut album, Back to Bedlam. "Brothers lie in shallow graves / Fathers lost without a trace / A nation blind to their disgrace," he sings.
It took some time for Blunt's debut effort to catch on, particularly in North America. The first single in the U.K., High, didn't even crack the Top 100 singles chart until it was used in an Italian cellphone commercial. The followup, Wisemen, peaked at No. 44 in the U.K.
Blunt's breakout was You're Beautiful, which hit the top spot at home in just six weeks. The track helped propel Back to Bedlam to the top of the albums charts, knocking off Coldplay. In North America, You're Beautiful was released as the first single in late 2005 and quickly shot to No. 1.
Blunt became the first British artist to top the U.S. singles chart since Elton John in 1997.
You're Beautiful, which Blunt says is based on seeing an ex-girlfriend at a subway station with another man, has spawned a number of parodies, including You're Pitiful by Weird Al Yankovic.
Of course, popularity breeds contempt. A poll earlier this year listed Blunt as the fourth most annoying thing in the U.K. -- in the same company as phone solicitors, line-jumpers and caravans (small trailers that slow traffic on British highways). This month, the BBC reported that Blunt's Goodbye My Lover was the most requested song at funerals and memorials.
Blunt has accepted that fame means a lack of privacy -- though he's been pegged in the British tabloids as a ladies' man, he's careful to keep his private life private. (Questions about his relationship with Czech model Petra Nemcova are off limits, though he's been quoted as saying, "I'm a very lucky man to be with Petra and that's all I need to say. I've been linked to all sorts of friends romantically and it's all just laughable. I only have to be photographed talking to someone and then I'm (said) to be going out with them. My personal life is settled and good and I'm feeling very lucky and happy.")
"People spotting me in the street and saying 'hi' is no bad thing," he says of being recognized almost everywhere he goes. He's less kind to professional shutterbugs. "Paparazzi are more like peeping toms, except now we pay them. They were probably very sorry perverts back in their time."
Blunt has already written some tracks for the sophomore album, some of which he is previewing for audiences on his current tour.
"It's going to be really miserable, the second one," he quips (we think), adding he's not feeling any pressure.
"My ambition was to make the first album something that I really enjoyed myself and I hoped that a few people would like it so I could make a second. I'll go out and make a second that I really enjoy and that's my focus rather than worrying too much about what other people think.
"And also I've been really lucky because I don't have to worry too much about holding on to a record deal now and so the pressure's off, and I can do music because I enjoy music, for the pleasure of it."
-- CanWest News Service
POP SINGER, POP QUIZ
Blunt takes the this-or-that challenge:
* Wine or beer? "Both, together."
* George Michael or Elton John? "I would have to say Elton John purely because he has taken me out on tour and been a huge support."
* Puppies or kittens? "Puppies, and hopefully they'll grow up."
* BBC1 or BBC2? "I don't watch much TV but the BBC as a whole is one organization that has been a great support to me."
* Doing interviews like this one or shoving shards of broken glass under your nails? "Um, that's a difficult one. I can't answer that question."
* Jessica Simpson or Jessica Alba? "I don't know. I've never met either of them. I know who Jessica Simpson is, though, and she seems very pretty."
* Chocolate or vanilla? "Chocolate."
* Taxi or the tube? "I really enjoy taking the tube, actually. In London it's great because people don't really look at you that much and you can get by and it's really nice to take public transport and be normal."
* Sunrise or sunset? "I normally see sunrise just because that's when I'm coming in from a club."
* Boxers or briefs? "Mind your own business."
* English Breakfast or green tea? "I guess English Breakfast."
* Equal marriage or civil union? "I'm way too young to think about that. I'm just practising having kids."
* Football or cricket? "Rugby."
* Poker or bridge? "Never played either."
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