Pages tagged “james blunt”

Tomorrow (June 19) night, The Sundance Channel plans to set you up with a very intimate date. The venue: Abbey Road Studios, London. The soundtrack: Dashboard Confessional, Mary J. Blige and James Blunt. The event: the premiere of the second season of Live From Abbey Road.

Easy-listening radio king James Blunt has decided to show what a beautiful humanitarian he is by announcing a Doctors Without Borders Benefit Show at L.A.’s House of Blues on November 16. As a former British military officer in Kosovo, Blunt witnessed the international medical organizations’ first-hand work in assisting developing countries with medical relief, compelling him to support the organization. Tickets cost $40 and went on sale Wednesday.

Blunt will also be auctioning one-on-one after show meet and greets for the rest of his 35-stop tour, with all proceeds donated to the organization; he already raised over $70,000 when he began the auctioning during his tour last Spring.

Founded in 1971, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has aided victims of armed conflict, epidemics, disasters and other medical problems with doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators and other personnel in over 70 countries. For more information, visit the Web site at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

Most singer/songwriters spend their formative years in bars, coffeehouses or smoke-filled dorm rooms. James Blunt took a different path, spending four years in the British army, including a stint as a peacekeeper in Kosovo.

Blunt, whose high voice and strong melodies are reminiscent of Cat Stevens, Elliott Smith and early Elton John, spends much of his debut Back to Bedlam focused on personal concerns like love and friendship. But he closes the album with the stunning “No Bravery,” a ballad about the horrors of war that he wrote in the barracks in Kosovo.

We asked Blunt for five things he learned in the Army that prepared him for a life in rock ’n’ roll:

1. Don’t get nervous

“People always ask if I get nervous performing, but I don’t find it nerve-wracking at all,” Blunt says. “It’s just singing. No one’s in danger if I forget the words, so what’s to worry about?”

2. Always act like you’re in charge

“When I was in the army, I used to stand up on a platform and convince soldiers I knew what the hell was going on,” he says. “Now, I do that onstage.”

3. Keep your space clean

“For years, I traveled around in a tank with all of my life possessions; now that tank is called a tour bus,” Blunt says with a laugh. “But in either one you have to keep things neat, so I have daily morning inspections. If any band member fails, they give me 50 push-ups.”

4. Think clearly at all times

“People think the army is very regimented, but you actually have a lot of freedom as to how you get a mission done, so you have to be self- motivated,” he says. “In that sense, it’s not that different from being a musician. You have to always keep pushing yourself to reach your goals.”

5. Learn how to escape

“I used to work in reconnaissance, so I got very good at hiding in bushes,” Blunt says. “That can be very useful when dealing with overzealous fans. The Army also teaches you discretion, which comes in handy on the road.”