The news that James Blunt is to pack up his belongings and move lock, stock and insipid ballads to the exclusive Swiss skiing resort of Verbier got me thinking about other artists who have exiled themselves abroad, whether for tax reasons or musical ones.
The list of British artists who have crossed the pond to the US goes on forever, but how about musicians who have travelled in more adventurous directions?
Blunt's move seems to have been inspired by the generous tax breaks which individual Swiss cantons often offer to famous foreigners as an incentive to make their homes there. However this is by no means the only motive for an artist to relocate to a new patch.
David Bowie's sojourn to Berlin in the late part of the 1970s spawned some of the most intriguingly off-kilter music of the Thin White Duke's career. On the other hand, Sean Ryder's temporary shift to the island of Barbados in 1992, ostensibly to ensure the Happy Mondays singer could not come into contact with any heroin dealers, spawned little more a rapid switch to crack cocaine. Oh and a rather rubbish final Mondays album which bankrupted Factory Records.
Has moving to a new locale been a positive move for artists who have attempted it? What's the most unusual country a musician has moved to? And how long before the Swiss get fed up of the man recently voted the fourth most annoying thing in the UK (beaten only by cold callers, queue-jumpers and caravans) and bury him headfirst in the middle of the nearest black run? These are all vital questions which need answering. Over to you.
