A year ago, no one in the music industry knew who James Blunt was. Now, just a short time later, it seems as though his name is on everyone's lips, and it's due in large part to one, huge hit song. "You're Beautiful," which hit the airwaves in late 2005, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 just a few months later, in early 2006. The British pop crooner is the first English artist to achieve that feat since Elton John in 1997.

With the success of the single has come international fame and headlining tours in large United Kingdom venues, but to label Blunt just another pop sensation would undermine the work he has put in to get this far.

Born in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England, in 1974, Blunt began playing both violin and piano at a young age. His exposure to the world of rock and roll and pop didn't come until he went to boarding school, and he didn't pick up a guitar until he was 14. It was then that he began writing songs, and soon, he'd decided that he wanted to spend his life making music. Blunt's musical path would have been a smoother and straighter one if not for the family's illustrious military tradition. The military had paid for his education, and in addition, his family expected him to serve. So after graduating from Bristol University, he joined the army and was with the elite Household Calvary. He was stationed in Canada and Kosovo before returning to England and serving as a Life Guard. Many of the songs on Blunt's debut album, "Back to Bedlam" were written during his last year of armed service.

In 2002, he left the army to pursue music full-time, and in 2003, he was discovered by Linda Perry, a songwriter/producer who soon signed Blunt to her Custard Records label. "Back to Bedlam" was released in the U.K. in 2004 to excellent reviews. The album is essentially stories about Blunt's life, told in his unique voice.

If the success of "You're Beautiful" is any indication, James Blunt concert tickets will soon be selling out all over the globe.