James Blundell (born 8 December 1964) is an Australian country music singer.
Music:
He won a Golden Guitar Award for best new talent of 1987.
Blundell's eponymous first album, in 1989, followed up by "Hand It Down", which was released in the United States in 1990 following its success in Australia. Successive albums were This Road and Touch of Water. This Road included the hit Way Out West, with James Reyne. Blundell's first works reflected his background as a jackaroo and his love of that life.
In 2003 Blundell garnered media attention for his song "Postcards From Saigon" and speaking out against the war in Iraq.
Personal life:
Blundell was born in Queensland town of Stanthorpe and was brought up on a sheep and cattle station near the town. As an adult he worked as a station hand across various locations in northern Australia. After a back injury sustained while working on a farm in Papua New Guinea he turned to music.
He created controversy in Australia on 26 August 2007, when his manager announced that he was leaving his second wife, to whom he was married for nine years, for "an Australian Idol competitor twenty years his junior." Blundell met Jesse Curran, at one of his concerts. On his MySpace page, Blundell says: "I heard Jesse singing at the Broken Hill races and she just floored me. You can find great talent in the most unexpected spots." Blundell has been married twice and has two sons from his second marriage.
In the lead-up to the Australian republic referendum in 1999 Blundell recorded the official song for the No campaign despite being in favour of a republic.
