Lesley-Ann Jones

Not to be confused with Leslie Ann Jones.

Lesley-Ann Jones is an sensationalist author 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, The Chuckle Brothers, 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 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).)

Future projects

Lesley-Ann Jones has written a virtual course to help would-be creative writers, drawing on experience gained in creative writing workshops for clients such as the Open University in Oxford, England, and the Literature Live Festival in Mumbai, India. Delivering 'a lesson a week for forty weeks', the LAJ Writer Academy introduces new writers to the fundamentals of fiction-writing, from theme, plot, voice and place to point of view, dialogue and character.

Personal life

The mother of a son and two daughters, she lives with her children in London, England.

Published works

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.