Post by goodie on Jul 10, 2007 0:25:17 GMT -5
#95. James Blunt
Biggest Hit of the 00s: You're Beautiful
Biggest Album of the 00s: Back To Bedlam
Other Singles from the 00s: High, Wiseman & Goodbye My Lover.
Biography of the 00s: James Blunt is a BRIT Award-winning and Grammy-nominated, English singer-songwriter whose debut album, Back to Bedlam, and single releases — especially the number one hit "You're Beautiful" — brought him to fame in 2005. His style is a mix of pop and acoustic rock. Along with vocals, James Blunt plays a wide variety of instruments including the piano, guitar, organ, marimba, and mellotron. He is signed to Linda Perry's American label Custard, and became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when his song "You're Beautiful" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. The last British artist to do so had been Elton John in 1997 with the song "Candle in the Wind".
Blunt signed to EMI Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter. He soon caught the eye of former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who had written and produced songs for Pink, Courtney Love and Christina Aguilera. Perry signed him to her new US-based Custard Records label, and Blunt recorded his album, Back to Bedlam, in Los Angeles with producer Tom Rothrock at Rothrock's home studio, Embassy studios while lodging with actress Carrie Fisher.
James Blunt's debut single, by "soft release" in the UK was "High" (co-written with Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue). This song peaked below the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart. However, the song was chosen to appear in a Vodafone commercial in Italy, and was a Top 10 hit in that country. His second single, "Wisemen", this time properly commercially available, peaked at #42, and sent the album into the UK's Top 20 chart. A support slot on Elton John's 2004 tour followed. Blunt's third single "You're Beautiful" was his breakout hit. The song debuted at #12 in the UK, and demonstrated a rare trend of upward mobility on the UK charts, rising all the way to the #1 position six weeks after its debut. The song also received massive airplay in the UK, which helped propel Back to Bedlam to #1 on the Albums Chart, unseating the record-breaking album X&Y by Coldplay from the pole position. After the success of "You're Beautiful" in the UK, the song crossed over to mainland Europe, becoming one of the biggest hits of summer 2005 across the continent. In the USA, "You're Beautiful" made its debut in the summer of 2005 on WPLJ, a prominent radio station in New York City, despite not having been released to radio yet. Once the song was released to radio stations in the Autumn of 2005, the song climbed into the Top 10 at three radio formats: Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, and Adult Alternative, eventually climbing to number 1 on the U.S. Hot 100.
The videos for all of Blunt's singles to date feature symbolism and dark imagery. In the first video for "High", he is buried in a desert. In the first video for "Wisemen", he is kidnapped and taken hostage. In the video for "You're Beautiful", he alludes to suicide by jumping off a cliff into the sea. The re-release video for "High" then features Blunt running in a forest. The re-release video for "Wisemen" has Blunt burning identification papers, and then walking through a forest while he is on fire. And in "Goodbye My Lover", he is the outsider in a love triangle, forced to imagine the couple, a man and woman (played by Matt Dallas of Kyle XY and Mischa Barton of The O.C.) together.
On December 3, 2005, James Blunt was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. His music has been featured on television programmes throughout the world. He made his acting debut on the (US) ABC Family Channel programme Wildfire, first aired on January 30, 2006. He also appeared in episode 103 of the CBS comedy Love Monkey (original air date February 7, 2006). He was interviewed and performed "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover" on the Oprah Winfrey Show on March 8, 2006 (taped on February 21, 2006).
In 2005, he performed 90 live shows, mainly across the UK and Europe, ending the year supporting Jason Mraz in a North American tour. The "Back to Bedlam World Tour" started off in Europe in early January 2006, moving through the UK in February, and then progressing to his first full headlining tour in North America starting in March. In April, Blunt performed several dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan before returning to North America for May, and then starting another UK/European tour in June and July. October and November saw the return of Blunt to North America. In addition to the songs from the Back to Bedlam album, Blunt has included several cover songs, including "Where Is My Mind?" and "Breakfast in America". Blunt has also performed several unrecorded original works in live performances.
On 7 July 2007 Blunt performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
Biggest Hit of the 00s: You're Beautiful
Biggest Album of the 00s: Back To Bedlam
Other Singles from the 00s: High, Wiseman & Goodbye My Lover.
Biography of the 00s: James Blunt is a BRIT Award-winning and Grammy-nominated, English singer-songwriter whose debut album, Back to Bedlam, and single releases — especially the number one hit "You're Beautiful" — brought him to fame in 2005. His style is a mix of pop and acoustic rock. Along with vocals, James Blunt plays a wide variety of instruments including the piano, guitar, organ, marimba, and mellotron. He is signed to Linda Perry's American label Custard, and became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when his song "You're Beautiful" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. The last British artist to do so had been Elton John in 1997 with the song "Candle in the Wind".
Blunt signed to EMI Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter. He soon caught the eye of former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who had written and produced songs for Pink, Courtney Love and Christina Aguilera. Perry signed him to her new US-based Custard Records label, and Blunt recorded his album, Back to Bedlam, in Los Angeles with producer Tom Rothrock at Rothrock's home studio, Embassy studios while lodging with actress Carrie Fisher.
James Blunt's debut single, by "soft release" in the UK was "High" (co-written with Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue). This song peaked below the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart. However, the song was chosen to appear in a Vodafone commercial in Italy, and was a Top 10 hit in that country. His second single, "Wisemen", this time properly commercially available, peaked at #42, and sent the album into the UK's Top 20 chart. A support slot on Elton John's 2004 tour followed. Blunt's third single "You're Beautiful" was his breakout hit. The song debuted at #12 in the UK, and demonstrated a rare trend of upward mobility on the UK charts, rising all the way to the #1 position six weeks after its debut. The song also received massive airplay in the UK, which helped propel Back to Bedlam to #1 on the Albums Chart, unseating the record-breaking album X&Y by Coldplay from the pole position. After the success of "You're Beautiful" in the UK, the song crossed over to mainland Europe, becoming one of the biggest hits of summer 2005 across the continent. In the USA, "You're Beautiful" made its debut in the summer of 2005 on WPLJ, a prominent radio station in New York City, despite not having been released to radio yet. Once the song was released to radio stations in the Autumn of 2005, the song climbed into the Top 10 at three radio formats: Adult Contemporary, Adult Top 40, and Adult Alternative, eventually climbing to number 1 on the U.S. Hot 100.
The videos for all of Blunt's singles to date feature symbolism and dark imagery. In the first video for "High", he is buried in a desert. In the first video for "Wisemen", he is kidnapped and taken hostage. In the video for "You're Beautiful", he alludes to suicide by jumping off a cliff into the sea. The re-release video for "High" then features Blunt running in a forest. The re-release video for "Wisemen" has Blunt burning identification papers, and then walking through a forest while he is on fire. And in "Goodbye My Lover", he is the outsider in a love triangle, forced to imagine the couple, a man and woman (played by Matt Dallas of Kyle XY and Mischa Barton of The O.C.) together.
On December 3, 2005, James Blunt was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. His music has been featured on television programmes throughout the world. He made his acting debut on the (US) ABC Family Channel programme Wildfire, first aired on January 30, 2006. He also appeared in episode 103 of the CBS comedy Love Monkey (original air date February 7, 2006). He was interviewed and performed "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover" on the Oprah Winfrey Show on March 8, 2006 (taped on February 21, 2006).
In 2005, he performed 90 live shows, mainly across the UK and Europe, ending the year supporting Jason Mraz in a North American tour. The "Back to Bedlam World Tour" started off in Europe in early January 2006, moving through the UK in February, and then progressing to his first full headlining tour in North America starting in March. In April, Blunt performed several dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan before returning to North America for May, and then starting another UK/European tour in June and July. October and November saw the return of Blunt to North America. In addition to the songs from the Back to Bedlam album, Blunt has included several cover songs, including "Where Is My Mind?" and "Breakfast in America". Blunt has also performed several unrecorded original works in live performances.
On 7 July 2007 Blunt performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.