James Blunt has enjoyed huge success since the release of his debut single, You're Beautiful, earlier this year - his album Back To Bedlam recently shipped its millionth copy and it's also the first album to simultaneously climb to number one with an accompanying single since John Lennon in 1980.

James comes from a long line of soldiers; he served in the army himself for over four years, and was posted in war-torn Kosovo for six months. He had a traditional army family upbringing, which included attending boarding school from the age of seven.

Listen to his debut album, and you'd never guess at the circumstances of James' life. So, just how did this ex-army captain become one of the most haunting singer/songwriters around?

You come from a family that has been in the army for several generations; how do you feel about having left the army?
Well, I've done my part, so I feel I haven't let the side down. I did four-and-a-half years, so that'll do! I've always had music in me, always learnt musical instruments, always played and sung. I've written songs since I was 14, so I'm just now carrying on with what I was meant to do, and I just happened to have a day job in the middle of it.

So, is there anything you miss about being in the army?
Like having moved on from any job, if you make friends with those people, you miss them, hanging out with those people. And when they go away it's strange not being a part of that. But I think life is too short to sit around doing the same thing. I enjoy what I do now.

The album, Back To Bedlam, has gone triple platinum and You're Beautiful was at number one for six weeks - how does it feel to be so successful?
Everyone says it's been sudden, but actually it hasn't - lots of people have followed this for a long time. From the various tours with Katie Melua and Elton John, lots of people were waiting for the album to come out and then it came out in October 2004. Well, that's a year ago, and from there it's been a gradual progression of certain people recognising it or buying it and a gradual curve.

It's just when everyone knows about it that's obviously a moment when something is kind of recognisable to the majority of people, but it has been a gradual curve that's done that. We played to 10 people, and then to 100 people and then to 1,000 people - as musicians playing on stage we've always been able to understand that level of growth. It hasn't been like there's been nothing and then there's been something, it's been a lot of hard work and seeing supporters turning up and bringing their mates down each time.

Of course, some people have just heard about it and gone, 'Wow, God, everyone seems to know you,' but those people haven't been turning up to our gigs, but there are other people who are like, 'We've been saying this for a long time!'

What's your inspiration when you write songs?
I take my inspiration from any kind of life experience. It's not a straight influence by others' music. I try and hold my own and follow my own path in that way.

If you were to say what do you relate to, I don't listen to it as much as I should, but I enjoy the early '70s singer/songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Lou Reid, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and Elton John. Nowadays I listen to The Killers, Bright Eyes, The Magic Numbers.

Why did you go to America to record the album?
I signed with an independent label called Custard Records who were based in Los Angeles, and I also asked to work with a guy called Tom Rothrock, who produced the album, who was based in Los Angeles himself.

I live in London, and it rains in London, and if you're going to make an album you might as well not wander out of your flat through the rain to your local studio – you go to LA, baby!

And what did you think about LA?
I thought it was a very spread-out place. I think it would probably be quite lonely if you didn't know anyone there, fortunately I've got a few mates out there and they all looked after me and I was living in a great place, and I had something to do on a daily basis, so I had a really great time. I don't think I'd live there, because home to me is where my friends are. But I really enjoyed my stay out there and I'll go and do it again sometime.

I hear you recorded Goodbye My Lover on the piano in your landlady's bathroom!
That's Hollywood! Everyone says it must be a huge bathroom, but actually an upright piano doesn't take up that much space!

So are you planning to stay in London?
I've moved out of my flat and I've boxed up my stuff and put it in storage because I'm not here, because I travel the world now – I have a suitcase and a guitar and I go to hotel rooms every day and about two days a month I'm back in England. I'm very comfortable with that. This is home – I'm not here very much, but it is home.

I've heard that your dad doesn't listen to music – what does he think about what you're doing now?
Sure, my dad doesn't necessarily listen to music and he's just a kind of outdoors kind of guy. Which is perfectly healthy, you know. I don't know what he thinks about the actual thing, but he's definitely a huge supporter and as things become increasingly busy with music and the whirlwind of what happens, as you become recognisable, then for me I can definitely relate to friends and family being the most important things in my life, and as a result you become more reliant on people like your parents for the continuity that they provide and their support.

Having been the army, what do you think about what's going on in Iraq?
I think it's very hard to know what politicians' motives really are, and I think it's very hard to understand what a press angle is from country to country – you go to America and you see one press angle and you go to Spain, let's say, and you hear a completely different story about the situation. So I think, therefore, sitting in England, it's really difficult to come to a conclusion.

What I can speak about is Kosovo, and the only reason I can speak about it is because I was there, and both Serbs and Kosovan Albanians, people who live there, whose country it was, whose villages and towns and cities we were in, were really glad that we were there, because we were saving lives on both sides. And as a result one can turn around and say, 'Yeah, this feels right and I don't give a stuff about what a politician thinks or what you read in the paper.' It's somebody's country and they say, 'Thank God you're saving our lives, my family are alive today because of you.' I think this seems far more relevant than any of the other aspects.

James Blunt releases his new single High on 3 October 2005, taken from his number one, triple platinum debut album, Back To Bedlam.