James Blunt was once in a busking duo with Bear Grylls.

James Blunt

James Blunt

The 43-year-old musician has revealed he used to perform alongside the TV star for donations in the street while they were both studying at Bristol University in the early 1990s.

He said: "I was in a band with Bear Grylls at university. We were a duo of roaming buskers.

"We called our methodology 'tuneless mugging', approaching unsuspecting couples on their way to the pub. We wouldn't let them go until they gave us money. It worked."

However, one celebrity James won't be performing alongside in the near future is rocker Noel Gallagher, who previously described the 'You're Beautiful' hitmaker as "boring".

James has hit back at the former Oasis star, claiming his music is more popular with women.

He told The Sun newspaper: "Think how many more women I've had at my gigs compared to Noel. He gets a wall of men shouting at him. I love it."

Meanwhile, James recently revealed that he once got drunk with Ed Sheeran in an "old brothel".

The singer-songwriter and Ed, 26, are set to spend three months on tour in the US, but James has promised there won't be a repeat of their previous shenanigans after an awards ceremony in Australia.

He explained: "Me and Ed are going to take ourselves very seriously, it's all about work. It won't be a repeat of that time we got really drunk at an after-party following an Australian awards ceremony."

At the party, James stumbled home after returning from a trip to the toilet to find that all of the guests, including Ed, had gone.

He recalled: "It was in an old brothel, a non-functioning one. We were hammered. I went to the loo and when I came out, the whole place, which had been full of 1,000 people, was totally empty. Even Ed had gone. I went out and the sun was up and I stumbled home."