When James Blunt came into the spotlight fourteen years ago with nothing more than mopped hair and a guitar strapped across his waist, he was nothing more than another musician striving to make it big in the already competitive music scene in the mid 00’s. However, “You’re Beautiful”, his 3rd single off his debut album, Back to Bedlam, shot him up into the No. 1 spot in the Billboard charts, catapulting him into what seemed to be another soft rock sensation.

Fourteen years later, many Malaysians scratched their heads when he is mentioned.

James Hillier Blount, better known as James Blunt, was born in 22nd February 1974 in Hampshire, UK. Having graduated from the University of Bristol using a military bursary, he went on to serve for his country for 6 years, even participating in the Kosovo Wars and rising to the ranks of Captain.

After serving, he went on to sign with a recording company, and adopted Blunt as his stage name. After Back to Bedlam, he has released four more studio albums, including his latest album, The Afterlove, propelling himself into the mainstream pop music scene once more. Both his singles, Love Me Better and Bartender, echo his 2005 form with his melancholic singing and modern vibes, allowing him to stay relevant in this already competitive music scene.

When the song, “You’re Beautiful” was released as a single in May 2005, it was easily the most played and requested song of the year. The soulful tune, along with Blunt’s unique vibrato belting to a man’s lost love captured the hearts of everyone who had learned to appreciate his music.

However, “You’re Beautiful” was also deemed as one of the most irritating song ever recorded, with Spike writer D. Sussman calling it the “worst song of all time”. It was largely derived from the song constantly being played in the radio stations, and would continue to do so for the year.

One of the most intriguing aspects of James Blunt’s career was not his music, but his Twitter account, where he frequently answer insults or negative comments made by Twitter users with sarcasm and dry wit, which gave him the repertoire of being snarky.

Some may call him rude or ungrateful towards fans, but James Blunt had unwittingly injected non-verbal humor in this verbal-heavy Internet era, and has never taken himself (or his songs) too seriously. If anything, that generated even more hate for him, which he had since turn it into free publicity.

Being dubbed a playboy in the mid ‘00s, Blunt attracted many attractive women by his side, often showing in events with different women. One would have to assume that his swooning voice had something to do with that.

His infamy for female flatulence finally ended in 2012 after he married to socialite Alexandrina “Sofia” Wellesley, daughter of Lord and Lady John Henry Wellesley, and also happens to be the granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, Valerian Wellesley.

His music may be questioned by many, but his looks is not for many women out there!

Many may not know this, but James Blunt’s fame was largely influenced, or indirectly so, by the late Carrie Fisher herself.

While having signed a record deal, James Blunt arrived in Los Angeles with nowhere to stay. Carrie Fisher offered him a place to stay, and they remained close friends ever since. One of his hit singles, “Goodbye My Lover”, was recorded in Fisher’s bathroom, and she named his debut album, “Back to Bedlam”, for him.

Their friendship never wavered even after his eventual success in the music charts, as Blunt continued to keep in touch with Fisher. A much more recent event before Fisher’s passing was at a Star Wars event, where Blunt was Fisher’s date of the day.