Lesley-Ann Jones
Lesley-Ann Jones | |
|---|---|
 Lesley-Ann Jones | |
| Occupation | Author |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | British |
| Website | |
| www | |
Lesley-Ann Jones is an author[1] who spent more than 20 years as a national newspaper journalist on Fleet Street. She was born in Kent, England and read French and Spanish in London and Paris. She is the daughter of acclaimed sportswriter Ken Jones, who wrote for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The Independent after retiring from professional football.
Biography
In the 1980s, she worked for Chrysalis Records, London, the label of some major acts at the time (Spandau Ballet, Jethro Tull (band), Special AKA, Midge Ure & Ultravox, Blondie), where she wrote sleeve notes, prepared press releases and organised interviews for the national press. She moved into television at the inception of Channel 4. The prime-time Saturday night magazine series ‘Ear- Say’, which she co-presented with Capital Radio DJs Nicky Horne and Gary Crowley, led to guest appearances on a variety of TV and radio shows, including Capital's You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet, a weekly music quiz produced by pop guru Phil Swern, and Radio Clyde’s Bill Padley Show, with Padley and singer/songwriter Jim Diamond. She also wrote aweekly column for The Sun (United Kingdom). She spent 6 years as a showbusiness feature writer for the Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday and YOU magazine, touring with Paul McCartney, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Queen and other superstar acts of the day.
As a freelance feature writer, her contributions to publications in the UK, USA, Australia and Europe included interviews with Tony Blair, Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston , Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot and HRH Princess Margaret. She appeared weekly for several years on BFBS Forces Radio with the late Tommy Vance, and worked on documentaries on Stevie Nicks, Ken Russell and Jermaine Jackson. She also appeared on TV shows Fax!, Music Box and Livewire in the UK, and E! Entertainment and Hard Copy in the USA. The Pampers diaper commercial she filmed with her baby daughter for Saatchi & Saatchi was aired across Europe for 18 months, one of the campaign’s most successful ads.
Following 3 years writing columns and features for the Sunday Express and the Mail on Sunday, she revised and updated her 1997 definitive biography of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. Republication by Hodder & Stoughton in October 2011 (paperback 2012) was due to coincide with the release of a Freddie Mercury biopic to commemorate the late singer's 21st anniversary. Since the withdrawal of the star engaged to play Freddie Mercury, Sacha Baron Cohen, the film has yet to be made.
In 2010, she was appointed Showbusiness Editor[2] for SKY/Freesat's music channel Vintage TV. She wrote and presented their celebrity interview series 'Me & Mrs Jones' (produced by Transparent Television and featuring heritage rock and pop artists Rick Wakeman, Frank Allen of The Searchers, Leee John of Imagination (band), Kim Wilde, Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel, Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet and Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo (band).)
December 2015, she wrote and co-produced 'The Last Lennon Interview' for ShowBiz TV.[3] It was internationally acclaimed, and was first aired on Lennon’s 35th anniversary. It was also the first time that former BBC radio 1 DJ Andy Peebles had ever talked about his interview with John and Yoko in New York, only a couple of days before he was murdered.
Personal life
The mother of a son and two daughters, she lives with her children in London, England.
Published works
- Blade On A Mirror (fiction, Arlington, 1984)[4]
- The Sony Tape Rock Review with Robin Eggar and Phil Swern (anthology, Pelham, 1984)[5]
- Kylie Minogue: The Superstar Next Door (biography, Omnibus Press/Media Business International, 1990)
- Naomi: The Rise and Rise of the Girl from Nowhere (biography, Vermilion, 1993)[6]
- Wow! with Caris Davis (fiction, Mainstream under the pseudonym Amy Auden, 1994 )
- Excuses, Excuses with Gray Jolliffe (humour, Kyle Cathie, 1996)[7]
- Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography (biography, Hodder and Stoughton, 1997)[8]
- Freddie Mercury: The Definitive Biography (rewrite, biography, Hodder & Stoughton, 2011)[9]
- Ride A White Swan: The Lives And Death Of Marc Bolan (Hodder & Stoughton, 2012)[10]
- Imagine (fiction, Mulcahy Books, 2015)[11]
- Hero: David Bowie (biography, Hodder & Stoughton, 2016)[12]
External links
References
- ^ Jones, Lesley Ann. "Lesley-Ann Jones". Hodder & Stoughton.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann. "ME & MRS JONES – Transparent TV". transparent.tv.
- ^ Peebles, Andy; Jones, Lesley Ann (8 December 2015). "JOHN LENNON". Showbiz TV.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (1984). Blade on a mirror. London: Arlington. ISBN 9780851406503.
- ^ Phil Swern & Robin Eggar, Edited by Lesley-Ann Jones (1984). The Sony tape rock review. Rambletree. ISBN 9780947894009.
{{cite book}}:|first1=has generic name (help) - ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (1993). Naomi : the rise and rise of the girl from nowhere. London: Vermilion. ISBN 9780091782825.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann & Gray Jolliffe (1996). Excuses, Excuses. London: K. Cathie Ltd. ISBN 9781856261821.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (1997). Freddie Mercury The Definitive Biography. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340672080.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (2011). Freddie Mercury : The Definitive Biography ([New edition] ed.). London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9781444733679.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (2013). Ride a white swan : The Lives And Death of Marc Bolan. ISBN 978-1444758795.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (2015). Imagine. Mulcahy Books. ISBN 978-1519274649.
- ^ Jones, Lesley-Ann (2016). Hero: David Bowie. Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 9781444758818.