And the Hey folks, welcome to Soda Jaker on songwriting,

this is Brian here with Simon and joining us for episode 151 is one of the most successful singer-songwriters to come out of the

UK in the past 20 years.

He's an Ivor novello winner who to date has sold over 20 million

albums worldwide. Just a few weeks ago he released his well-received sixth studio

album, Once Upon a Mind and we met him down in London a few weeks ago to chat about it.

We are very happy to welcome the excellent James Blunt to the show.

Our guest was born James Blount in Tidworth, Hampshire in 1974.

He was an army brat, his family have a long military history in fact, so he moved

around the UK quite a bit as a child and also spent time living in Germany and Cyprus.

He had piano and violin lessons as a child but was introduced to the electric

guitar age 14. While a boarding school he was introduced to the music of Cat Stevens,

Neil Young, Lou Reed, Elton John and Paul Simon. Prior to his music career, James spent four years serving in the British Army

where he spent time with the NATO Peacekeeping Force and wartime Kosovo.

He eventually rose to the rank of Captain before leaving the Army in 2002.

I bet his nails.

Yeah, he might be a dab-handed, a romantic ballad, but he could snap your neck in a heartbeat.

While in Kosovo, James would entertain his fellow officers with his guitar and wrote songs during his time off.

He later sent his demo to Elton John's manager who instantly contacted James after hearing Goodbye My Lover.

Our guest signed a publishing deal with EMI shortly after leaving the Army.

His next big break came at 2003's South by Southwest where he caught the attention of

Linda Perry, ex of phone on Blondes, eventually starting to hear label Custered Records.

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