James has been a part of our family now for many years. We love James, we talk about him often and listen to his music all the time. He is not understandably everyone’s cup of tea, he’s not exactly Bond (who of us are perfect anyway) but that raspy voice makes him a necessary habit in the evenings.  His name is Blunt, James Blunt.

James initially joined our family after his first album, it was played consistently over the next couple of weeks and sung endlessly in the shower or car.  Six months later Sean was invited to his first birthday party in Grade 0, with much excitement he joined in with all the party games and festivities. During the party a DJ was playing music and to Steve’s amazement, Sean assertively marched onto the stage, took hold of the mic and proceeded to belt out “You’re Beautiful”. One of those times where the handy camera would have come in handy if it were on hand 😦 Astonishment sounded throughout the attending parents and the whisperings of: “Wow, he is good, how old is he?” was spun around the room. I have to pause and *giggle* here because at the age of 6 in South Africa children are only starting to learn how to read and the parents there were amazed that this pint sized little boy new all the lyrics and thought that he had read the words off somewhere.  We still laugh about the incident today! No he could not read, he had listened to James so many times that he could recite the song and quite frankly he just loves James.

Just before Sean turned 8, he went to his first “live” James Blunt concert in South Africa. The excitement of the day was palpable.  James came on stage and Sean’s day was made, he engaged with the audience was hysterically funny about his wretchedly unhappy songs and how they were either, strangely enough, used at funerals or weddings. And then, the highlight of the night came.  James, oh James, jumped off the stage (to the consternation of his body guards and the concert organizers) and ran through the audience. Sean shot to the side of the where we were standing, lifted his tiny little paw up and got a high five from his hero! The highlight of his music experience to date 🙂
So James has had a huge impact on our family and come 14 February we will be welcoming him back into our lives at a Concert in Qatar. No lively 8 year olds will be joining us this time and with Sean in Switzerland it would be a stretch. He was upset at missing seeing his music hero, even so we certainly will enjoy the time together with the man who made our son love music.
Looking forward to seeing you again James!

This is my favorite spoof video of You’re Beautiful….

So who else is going?