James Blunt's unusual rise to fame and key moment that changed everything
Placing his hand on the gate of the home of Carrie Fisher, James Blunt started to cry as he remembered his late-night chats with the actress who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films from 1977 to 1983. Their unlikely friendship began when he was invited to Restaurant 192 in London's Notting Hill for dinner - and was a turning point in his journey to becoming a huge pop star.
“I was going out with a girl whose parents were family friends of Carrie’s and I sat beside her at lunch,” James told The Guardian. “I had just got a record deal and was moving to LA. Carrie’s first question was: “What do you do?” I said: “I’ve left the army to go to make an album in LA. Question number two was: “Where are you going to live?” I said I didn’t know. Her reply – the third thing she ever said to me – was: “Well, you’re going to live with me.” So I did just that.”
Carrie Fisher made her name in Star Wars as Princess Leia (©1977 Lucas Films)James poignantly reveals how they became best friends while he was staying with her and the song Dark Thought on his new album describes the moment he went back to her house after she had died, put his hand on her gate and burst into tears. Carrie died of sleep apnea and ‘other factors’ (reportedly drug use) in 2016 at her home in Los Angeles aged just 60.
As well as his friendship with one of Hollywood’s most iconic actresses, this new documentary also takes a look at the popstar’s rise to fame from serving in the army during the Kosovo War to recording the biggest-selling album of the noughties. Dubbed as “Spinal Tap meets Alan Partridge” the official description says it's a “behind the scenes, brutally honest story of a painfully self-aware, endlessly touring musician, for whom persistence eventually prevails.”
James Blunt talked about how him and his wife had suffered a miscarriage on Loose Women (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Speaking to Virgin Radio’s Chris Evans about his new album, Who We Used to Be, James recently revealed how his newest album is about how life changes as we get older. “Now I have to start thinking about looking after my parents a lot more than they might have to look after me, more than they have looked after me,” he explained. “And my place has changed because I have children now and I have to think about them instead of number one here.
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“So it's just my shifting place, and it's just been a tonne of inspiration; the highs and lows of a life, you lose friends along the way. People have troubles along the way. There's been lots to write about.” James was born in Tidworth, Wiltshire, to an army family and served during the Kosovo War. The now 49-year-old left the army in 2002 to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter picking up two Brit awards during his career - ‘Best British Male Solo Artist’ and ‘Best Pop Act’ in 2006.
James Blunt let cameras film behind the scenes of his Greatest Hits tour (James Blunt)Before he became famous, James graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Sociology, later joining the British Army which had sponsored his university education. After six years and achieving the rank of captain, Blunt left to pursue a career in music changing his surname from Blount to Blunt.
In 2004 his debut album, Back to Bedlam catapulted him into megastar status when it became one of the best-selling albums of the 2000s in the UK selling a staggering 12 million copies. His most famous song - You’re Beautiful - is a firm favourite at weddings but it was actually written about his ex-girlfriend, who he saw on the tube with her new partner.
The singer told Oprah: “It’s about seeing my ex-girlfriend on the subway in London with her new man, who I didn’t know existed. She and I caught eyes and lived a lifetime in that moment, but didn’t do anything about it.” He told The Guardian how he always wanted to be a rockstar and even taught himself how to play the guitar. “I learned the electric guitar, teaching myself Money for Nothing by Dire Straits – a cool riff,” he said.
“Then, when I didn’t have enough friends to form a band, I decided to become a solo artist. I picked up an acoustic guitar to write songs along the lines of: “Poor me, I don’t have any mates. Here are my sad songs.”
These days, James owns a pub in London and is married with two children. In October, James Blunt performed his touching new song about pregnancy loss on The One Show - The Girl That Never Was. The singer-songwriter and his wife Sophie, 40, married in 2014, and are parents to two sons - whose names have not been revealed. The new song is about how the couple lost their baby daughter to miscarriage.
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