JAMES BLUNT
If 2005 was the year of the singer songwriter then the charge was undisputedly led by UK sensation James Blunt.
As 2006 begins there is every sign that this will be the year of James Blunt down under with the return of his album to the top of the charts and the announcement of his first ever concert tour of Australia and New Zealand.
With over 6.5 million albums sold worldwide, number one chart positions in countless countries, the title of most successful British artist of 2005, and five 2006 Brit Award nominations, the accolades for James Blunt’s debut album Back To Bedlam (Warner) in the past twelve months have been exceptional.
Hits Goodbye My Lover and You’re Beautiful have been firm radio staples in both Australia and New Zealand and every day more and more people are captivated by James Blunt’s heartfelt lyrics and gravelly voice.
In the UK alone James Blunt sold 2.37 million copies of Back To Bedlam in 2005, outselling Coldplay, Oasis and Robbie Williams. No small feat for a guy who just a few years earlier was serving as a British Army reconnaissance officer in Kosovo without a record deal to his name.
Today the popularity of James Blunt’s album can be matched only by the success of his first ever world tour. Fans in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane can experience first hand why James Blunt’s concerts have been selling out in quick succession across the UK, Europe and the USA. Plus it has just been announced that James Blunt will perform at the 2006 MTV Australia Video Music Awards to be staged at the Sydney SuperDome on April 12!
The Independent in the UK wrote that James Blunt’s live show was “sublime tunes and angsty heartache punctured by blokey banter, played by a flirty poetic man with a pukka accent: it’s a winning combination. The crowd goes mental.”
Prior to his April tour, fans can get an early taste of James Blunt live, with the release on February 20 of Chasing Time: The Bedlam Sessions. The package will include a live acoustic CD recording of James performing all of the tracks off Back To Bedlam plus a DVD of a BBC concert session recorded at the end of last year with video ‘making of’s’ and an EPK.
With Back To Bedlam now 5 times platinum in New Zealand and 4 times platinum in Australia competition will be fierce for tickets to the shows this April.
