James Blunt wasn’t necessarily looking for a piece of history.

He just wanted to get his music out in the United States.

He accomplished the later in dramatic fashion, along the way making unintended music history of sorts.

When his ballad, “You’re Beautiful,” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, he became the first British artist to top the U.S. singles charts since Elton John did it with “Candle In the Wind” in 1997. It also became an RIAA double platinum digital single, while helping propel the album it introduced, “Back to Bedlam,” to double platinum status.

The singer-songwriter-musician says he really has no idea why it took so long to get a Brit back on top again. “There’s been some great music in Britain. As to why some crosses over (to the U.S.) and some don’t, I’m not in a position to say. I feel I’ve been incredibly fortunate people in America have given me a chance and welcomed me.”

It is appropriate, perhaps, that Sir Elton was the last to do it before Blunt, because it is John who initially welcomed Blunt into his artistic circle after he completed his Army duty in 2002.

He was signed to John’s management company and then to a record contact. John, who asked him to perform at his wedding, described “You’re Beautiful” as a modern successor to his “Your Song.”

“You’re Beautiful” spent five weeks at number one in the UK, making it the first time a male solo artist had ruled both album and singles charts for a month since Rod Stewart did it 30 years ago.

“Back to Bedlam” was the number one CD in England for nine weeks and was number one in many countries worldwide.

It’s understandable if it all still seems to be somewhat of a whirlwind experience for Blunt.

“It’s definitely a learning process. I always set out to be a musician. I’m lucky enough to be given a chance to achieve my ambition. I’m really excited that some people seem to connect with it,” he says.

Understatement aside, Blunt seems to be making connections in a number of ways as his music is being embraced worldwide.

He has no regrets of possible lost time because he was in the military for four years. “No, quite the opposite. It was a time where I met many people and learned about the world and people and social groups and politics. And I lived and worked with many other people,” he says.

The former British Army captain agrees that the military really did prepare him to deal with and survive in the music industry.

The Blunt family has a tradition of soldiering that goes back many years. His father is a retired colonel in the Army air corps. After graduating from Bristol University at the age of 21, James joined the Army, serving in the elite Household Calvary. He also had a tour of duty in Kosovo in 1999 as a reconnaissance officer with the NATO peacekeeping force.

When he returned to assignment in London, he guarded the queen, including riding beside her when she came out in a carriage. He also guarded the casket of the Queen Mother at the vigil in which she lay in state.

It was his experiences in Kosovo, when he was very much in harm’s way, that made their way into song. The closing track, “No Bravery,” was written in the barracks in Kosovo, a response to the genocide he had witnessed.

He senses that he views life and the world in a different way than he otherwise might have had he not been in war. “It was only six months, but it was an incredibly intense time. Experiences came thick and fast and most extreme. I saw humans at their most extreme and most destructive and, in many ways, at their best. There was inhumanity and, at other times, incredible compassion. You would see groups of people and individuals responding in incredible ways. It was truly inspirational and very touching and very humane.”

One group he has not forgotten is the independent international medical humanitarian organization known as Doctors Without Borders, for whom he is raising funds through his music and performances. The organization (www.doctorswithoutborders.org) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

“It was really inspirational. I was in a depressing place of genocide and murder, and it was pretty abhorrent, and war was going on. And yet Doctors Without Borders was doing something pretty amazing around the corner. These are very selfless people with very little rewards who are really giving,” he says.

In November, he held a concert at the House of Blues in Los Angeles to benefit their work. At each venue on his fall tour, a one-on-one after-show meet-and-greet with him was auctioned to raise additional funds for Doctors Without Borders. As of October, he had raised $70,000, with one recent auction earning $8,600 in a single night.

Doctors Without Borders delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.

Each year, doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators and other medical and non-medical professionals depart on more than 3,800 field assignments. They work alongside more than 22,500 locally hired staff to provide medical care.

The group was founded in 1971 as a nongovernmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of the people it assists.

While Blunt is not enamored with the celebrity side of the music business, he is pleased that it can help him put the spotlight on such worthwhile causes as Doctors Without Borders.

He believes in the power of music to accomplish many things.

“I really believe in the songs I write. They are songs from the heart and mind, things that mean something to me, (forged from) connections and relationships long the way,” he says.

While he writes about the human experience from his own perspective, we are all, in many ways, the same, he says. “People connect with those songs because we are all just trying to survive and we have the same emotions and hopes and fears and dreams along the way,” he says. Blunt tries to write songs that capture those emotions.

“The mind can be a lonely place. No one really gets to hear the voice in our heads,” he adds.

Music provides that voice, he suggests.

“Though people sometimes feel like they are in an isolated cell, if they can hear my songs and connect, I do feel they can relate to them,” he says. It is about feeling less alone and knowing that we are not the only ones experiencing a particular emotion, he implies.

Blunt wants to continue to capture life’s many experiences in songs. “I really enjoy life,” he says. “Playing songs live is really kind of a social interaction in a way, an emotional journey of ups and downs.”

The concert hall is a special place to him. “There are lots of people and they are all there to have fun and be taken on a journey, and they seem enthusiastic about it. They have the time of their lives,” he says.

It is on American stages where he believes he can introduce people to the many musical sides – low-key to energetic -- of James Blunt. The success and long run in the U.S. of his first single, “You’re Beautiful,” while a rewarding accomplishment to him, also provides a limited view of who he really is, he suggests.

Because the song is perceived as a ballad, then people think that is what you are all about, he explains. “If I am labeled a romantic, sensitive, singer-songwriter, that makes me feel slightly uncomfortable,” he says.

“Around the world there have been five singles and, in most places, they were in the Top 10 or Top 5. Some people (in the rest of the world) know there is greater depth.”

Blunt has said that he comes from a naïve background as far as pop and rock music goes. While he played both piano and violin from a young age, there was no CD or record player in his house. It was not until he went to boarding school that he was exposed to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and others.

He feels that gave him a different appreciation for rock and pop than he might have had, and that it did impact his artistry in its own unique way. “I didn’t know any rules to follow. I was just following my own way. I didn’t say, ‘This has been done before, so I can’t do it again.’ Following my own path through naivety is a benefit for me.”

“Being British I’m not very good at expressing myself emotionally,” he adds through laughter. “And yet I find that music really does capture what I feel inside.”