James Blunt

James Blunt can seem like the most soft-hearted kind of singer with his trembling falsetto and lyrics full of yearning. But as you might expect of a star who spent much of his pre-fame life serving in the army, he’s not as easily bruised as he sometimes sounds. Instead, Blunt’s proven to be a remarkably hardy and enduring artist in the years since he first bared his soul on “You’re Beautiful”, a confession of unrequited love that became one of the biggest hits of the 2000s. It was one of many songs on Blunt’s 2004 debut, Back to Bedlam, that helped spur a wider shift for singer/songwriters away from the more brooding style of David Gray and Damien Rice back toward the warmer sounds of ‘70s heroes like Elton John and Cat Stevens. Blunt also paved the way for Ed Sheeran’s global conquest with his knack for writing plaintive songs that could simultaneously be hauntingly intimate, rich in detail and immediately memorable. The younger hitmaker returned the favour when he co-produced Blunt’s wide-ranging 2017 album The Afterlove. When he further embraced its precursor’s dalliances with dance pop and other styles on 2019’s Once Upon a Mind, Blunt’s adaptability became just as remarkable as his vulnerability has always been.