POP superstar James Blunt is searching for a local support act for his November show at the BIC.

The You’re Beautiful singer, who has been on an 84-date worldwide tour, is heading back to the south coast for his second Bournemouth gig this year – as well as the headlining slot at the Wickham Festival, near Fareham, on August 14.

The singer-songwriter will make his selection through an initiative backed by our sister paper in Bournemouth.

Daily Echo: James Blunt takes to the stage

The Bournemouth Daily Echo and O2 Academy Bournemouth Unsigned Campaign can be accessed on their website bournemouthecho.co.uk/ unsigned.

The deadline is August 31 and musicians can upload their MP3 track and bio on the Unsigned webpage.

“It’s not something that we’ve done before, but we thought we’d try something different this time. We wanted to do something grass roots and find a support act locally,” said James, 40.

Having got his big break by supporting established names such as Katie Melua and Sir Elton John, following a distinguished career in the Household Cavalry, James understands how big an opportunity this is.

“From my experience of Elton John finding new bands and taking them out on the road, which is what he did with me. He took me around the UK and one of my second gigs with my band was in front of 40,000 people at Ipswich football stadium. Without those kinds of opportunities I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” James added.

James rounded off the UK leg of his Moon Landing worldwide tour in April and he had such a fantastic night he booked a return show this autumn.

The show will feature songs from his latest Moon Landing album, including the hit Bonfire Heart, but he promises there will be tunes from previous records – which have amassed worldwide sales of 20 million, as well.

“A support act should be good musically and that is original and creative. They need to engage with the audience. Historically I would have looked for an act that gets the audience going with energy and sets me up on stage with an audience that is already having fun and enjoying themselves.”

l James Blunt plays Wickham Festival on Thursday, August 14 when he joins Steve Earle and the Dukes, Bellowhead and Oysterband at the hugely popular family festival. Tickets have been selling fast since his name was announced last week!

Tickets at ticketsouth.co.uk. Full details from wickhamfestival.co.uk or the event’s new twitter feed @festivalwickham.