Name: James Blunt Real name: James Hillier Blount.

Occupation: Posh English singer-songwriter responsible for You’re Beautiful.

Born: February 22, 1974, at Army hospital in Tidworth, Wiltshire, into military family since 10th century.

Where and when he will play? Dalby Forest, near Pickering, on Thursday, June 26 for Forestry Commission’s Forest Live annual concert series. Also part of his Moon Landing world tour.

Education: Harrow School; Bristol University; Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Army career: Signed up for four years, Captain Blount ended up serving six in Canada, Kosovo and London. Left in October 2002.

Musical first steps: Picked up guitar and penned first song at 14. Wrote university dissertation on music industry. Took his teenage-days guitar to war in Kosovo, strapped to his tank.

Musical progress: Spotted playing at South By Southwest Festival, in Austin, Texas; signed by Linda Perry to her new label Custard. Recorded Back To Bedlam album with Tom Rothrock in Los Angeles; released to universal difference in 2004 until… Breakthrough: Third single You’re Beautiful turned into global hit in 2005.

What happened next? Back To Bedlam became biggest-selling British album of 2005 and the Noughties and now stands in top 20 best-selling albums of all time.

What followed: Three more albums; three world tours; four number one singles; five Grammys (plus two BRITs, two Ivor Novellos and MTV awards galore); and six-piece band for seven years of gigs.

Those albums: All The Lost Souls, 2007; upbeat, electric Some Kind Of Trouble, 2010; return-to-acoustic Moon Landing, 2013, entering charts at number two.

More statistics: Five million Facebook “likes”; 17 million album sales; 20 million single sales worldwide; 250 million plays on Spotify; 257 million YouTube views.

Charity work: Supports Medicins Sans Frontiers and Help For Heroes, including three foiled attempts to play in Afghanistan for serving soldiers.

Issue that concerns him: Draws attention to climate change.

Did you know? His friend Carrie Fisher, the Hollywood actress, suggested Back To Bedlam album title, while he stayed with her during LA recording sessions. Recorded vocals for Goodbye My Lover in her bathroom.

Did you know too? Moon Landing track Miss America was prompted by Whitney Houston’s death.

Blunt on Blunt in 2014: “In my teens, I found freedom in music. It’s a way of dreaming, a way to express who you are to the audience, but just as importantly, to yourself. It has taken me a while to understand it, to feel it again and start dreaming again.”

Dalby tickets: On sale from 9am tomorrow from Forestry Commission box office on 03000 680400 or at forestry.gov.uk/music

• Proceeds from James Blunt’s Dalby Forest concert will go towards Forestry Commission’s improvement of woodland.