Mercy: Has James Blunt quit the music industry for good?

Blunt told The Daily Mail the he was going to "take some time out for myself”.

‘I haven’t got any plans to do more songwriting,” he is quoted as saying. “I have been chilling out since I finished my world tour and I’ve spent a lot of time in Ibiza, where I have a villa.”

James, 38, was speaking to the Mail journalist at the relaunch of Fulham nightclub Barbarella with his model girlfriend Sofia Wellesley.

Blunts 2005 debut Back To Bedlam sold 11 million copies and featured the hits You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover.

He hasn’t actually said he’s quit the music industry, as some have reported, but that wouldn’t mean anything to those who recall John Farnham’s Last Time Tour.

Whatever your personal opinions of his low-fi, mostly acoustic, whiny love anthems are, there’s no denying his short three-album career has been sweet - he’s won two MTV VMAs, two Brit Awards and two Ivor Novellos, and saw action in Kosovo with the Queen's guard.

Blunt often cops criticism for being posh, so it seems fitting that he’s going to sit back and enjoy his large amounts of cash and spend time with his hot girlfriend for a while.

Here’s a dose of the lead song from the album that went 10 times platinum in the UK and nine times platinum in Australia – You’re Beautiful was number one in the UK, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and the US. So, basically, you or someone you know bought it...