Remember singer-songwriter James Blunt the mega hit You’re Beautiful?

British singer James Blunt has said he wants to become a Swiss citizen after living in the tax-friendly country for the past five years. ‘As soon as the authorities will let me, because I don’t know if I’ve been here a sufficiently long time, I would like to become Swiss,’ he told a Swiss newspaper at the weekend. ‘Verbier is my home,’ said the 38-year-old multi-millionaire, who bought a chalet in the ski resort in 2005.

Blunt has spoken of taking a break from his musical career, propelled in 2005 when the multimillion album seller, Back to Bedlam, first brought him to fame. His three albums have sold 18 million copies. Meanwhile, Blunt revealed his unusual plans for New Year’s Eve: ‘I want to run around the resort disguised as a cow.’

It might take his mind off ugly rumours that surfaced in the UK last month linking him to a tax scandal, insisting attempts to question his contribution to the nation’s finances are a ‘witch-hunt’.The You’re Beautiful star hit headlines when it emerged his name was on a leaked list of HSBC bank customers with an offshore account on the Channel Island of Jersey.

The list, which also contains the identities of several other high-profile Brits, has sparked a tax probe by officials at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, but Blunt is adamant his banking practices are legitimate and insists he pays his fair share into the UK’s public purse.