tribute album 30 Years of Pride: A Tribute to James Blundell was released. Politics In June 2013, Blundell was selected as Katter's Australian Party's lead Senate candidate for Queensland in the 2013 federal election. This was largely at the urging of Bob Katter, the party's founder and only federal member of parliament. Blundell had previously been approached to stand in elections by the Liberal National Party (LNP), but declined. His selection was controversial within the party, in part because he had not been a party member before his candidacy was announced, and contributed to a former vice-president, Kevin Brown, resigning his membership. Some of Blundell's political positions have been controversial within the party, notably his support for same-sex marriage and the abolition of penalty rates. Personal life Blundell has been married twice—first to Louise, a former manager, and second to Lidia, with whom he had two sons. He left his second wife in August 2007 for Jesse Curran, a singer who he had met at one of his concerts and while she was a contestant on Australian Idol. He and Curran have since had two children together, Fian Blundell and Ria Blundell. Blundell was engaged to Kristal Padget in 2017. In March 2020 he announced his engagement to Rebecca Williams, 28 years after she inspired his 1992 hit "Down On The Farm". In May 2010, Blundell filed for bankruptcy, having gone into debt attempting to finance his albums, as well as having lost money on the sale of an investment property the previous year. The bankruptcy was discharged in April 2013—had it not been, he would have ineligible to stand as a candidate for election. Blundell's brother, Peter Blundell, died on 24 December 2021.</ref> He was a former mayor of the Stanthorpe Shire and the Southern Downs Region as well as the LNP candidate for Keppel in the 2017 Queensland state election. Discography James Blundell, 1989 Hand It Down, 1990 This Road, 1992 Touch of Water, 1993 Earth & Sea, 1995 Amsterdam Breakfast, 1999 I Shall Be Released: The Best of James Blundell, 2001 Deluge, 2005 Ring Around the Moon, 2007 Essential, 2007 Portrait of a Man, 2008 Woolshed Creek, 2011 Come On In, 2015 Campfire, 2017 Awards AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. |- |