James Blunt

James Blunt plays Circuit (formerly Pryzm) in Kingston on Wednesday 11 November, with the show starting at 19:00. It's a London date for the singer and songwriter, and he's the sole name on the bill.

If you're coming to him from the radio, you'll know the early stuff. His debut album Back to Bedlam and the number-one hit 'You're Beautiful' made him a cultural phenomenon in 2005, and that's where most people first encountered his voice. Since then, his style has sat across pop, rock and folk, and he plays a fair few instruments himself — piano, guitar, organ, marimba and mellotron are all in the mix. He's a multi-instrumentalist who does a lot of the heavy lifting on stage.

There's a bit of a story to him that doesn't usually make it into the music press. Born James Hillier Blount in Tidworth, Wiltshire, he grew up in the county and studied at the University of Bristol on an Army scholarship. From there he trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, rose to the rank of captain, and served as a NATO peacekeeper in Kosovo before leaving the Army to pursue music. It's a fairly unusual path to a pop career.

Outside the music, he's known as one of Britain's funniest Tweeters, with a dry humour that's been a good part of his public profile for years. That side of him has come out in a couple of non-musical projects: the 2023 documentary James Blunt: One Brit Wonder and his 2026 season of Celebrity Traitors. If you've seen either, you'll have a decent sense of the person behind the songs. The gig is at Circuit in Kingston, London, on Wednesday 11 November, starting at 19:00.