BBC Radio 2

Broadcast area	United Kingdom; available worldwide through the internet
Slogan	Online, on Digital Radio, and on 88 to 91 FM
Frequency	FM: 88.1 MHz – 90.2 MHz DAB: 12B Freeview: 702 Freesat: 702 Sky: 0102 Virgin Media: 902 TalkTalk TV: 602 UPC Ireland: 908
First air date	30 September 1967 (1967-09-30)
Format	Hot AC, Indie Music, Infotainment
Language	English
Audience share	16.30% (December 2011, [1])
Owner	BBC
Webcast	eAAC+ AAC
Website	bbc.co.uk/radio2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom.^[1] Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres. Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between 88.1 and 90.2MHz from studios in Western House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are relayed on digital radio via DAB, Sky, Cable TV, IPTV, Freeview, Freesat and the Internet. The station's programming is broadcast on a network of FM transmitters of up to 250 kW, the strongest FM signals in the EU.^[2]

History[link]

1967–1986[link]

The station was launched at 05:30 ^[3] on 30 September 1967, and evolved from the Light Programme, with some of the Light Programme's music shows transferring to the newly launched Radio 1. The first show had started at 05:30am (on the Light programme) but continued with Breakfast Special from Paul Hollingdale as Radio 1 split.

In early years, much programming and music was common to both stations, particularly on the shared FM frequency. Radio 1 was targeted at the audience of pirate radio stations whereas Radio 2 settled down as a middle-of-the-road station playing laid-back pop/rock, folk and country, jazz and big-band music, easy listening, light classics, and oldies, with significant amounts of comedy and sport. Notable broadcasters on Radio 2 in the 70s and 80s were Ray Moore on early breakfast, Terry Wogan on breakfast, replaced by Ken Bruce and later Derek Jameson; Jimmy Young and his lunchtime news and current affairs show; 'Diddy' David Hamilton on mid-afteroons, John Dunn at what became known as drivetime. Radio 2 became the first national 24-hour radio station in the UK in 1979.

Frances Line: 1986–1996[link]

The station's policy remained stable with only minor changes until April 1986 when Frances Line, head of music, repositioned the station. She would become Controller in 1990. An ageing Radio 1 audience which had grown up with the station was sticking with it into their 40s and beyond; Line repositioned Radio 2 to appeal exclusively to the over-fifties and introduced older presenters and based the playlist around nostalgia, easy listening and light music. As a result, David Hamilton quit the station at the end of 1986, claiming the music policy had become "geriatric"; Terry Wogan's replacement Derek Jameson also appealed to an older, down-market demographic. Although popular with its target audience, the policy alienated many younger listeners who had listened to both Radio 1 and Radio 2 and the station's audience fell. It took another hit when sports coverage moved to Radio 5 in August 1990. Another blow was struck by the rise of album-rock commercial stations (particularly Virgin Radio) and 'gold' spinoffs from Independent Local Radio stations playing classic pop and rock. With the station's audience in decline a change of emphasis was needed.

James Moir "The Nation's Favourite" — 1996 onwards[link]

Line was replaced by James Moir in 1996. Moir repositioned Radio 2 with a largely AOR/contemporary playlist by day, aimed at a more mature audience than Radio 1 (which, post-Britpop, was again starting to focus on a young audience) but still embracing new music, and more specialist broadcasting by recognised genre experts in the evenings. Unlike the early-90s repositioning of Radio 1 in which the BBC lost many well-known names, many former Radio 1 presenters stayed with the BBC and moved across to Radio 2.

Radio 2 is now termed "the nation's favourite", a title the BBC formerly used for BBC Radio 1. It is the most listened-to station in the UK, its schedule filled with broadcasters such as: Sir Terry Wogan, Steve Wright, Chris Evans, Simon Mayo, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Mark Radcliffe, Janice Long, Tony Blackburn, Paul Gambaccini, Johnnie Walker and Bob Harris.

As well as having most listeners nationally, it ranks first in many regions above local radio stations. BBC Radio 2 played to 27% of the available audience in 2006.^[4]

The current position[link]

The station now has adult listeners, mainly aged 25 and above, although in recent years it has attracted more younger listeners. Its daytime playlist features music from the 1960s to various current chart hits, album and indie music. The station's appeal is broad and deep, with accessible daytime programmes and specialist programmes of particular types or eras of music. In 2009, Radio 2 again won the Music Week Award for National Radio Station of the Year, an award it has won for several consecutive years.^[5]

Weekday evenings feature specialist music, including jazz, folk music, blues, country and western, reggae, classic rock, showtunes and biographies and documentaries on musical artists and genres. This specialist programming typically runs from 19:00 to 20:00, and from 22:00 to midnight. Radio 2 hosts both the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Big Band.

Brian Matthew's "Sounds of the Sixties" remains a regular fixture on the Saturday schedule, as does Johnnie Walker's "Sounds of the Seventies" on a Sunday.

On Sundays, the schedule reverts closer to its old style, with a focus on easy listening, Jazz and Show music, with presenters like Clare Teal and David Jacobs and long-standing programmes like Sunday Half Hour.

Radio 2 does not broadcast complete works of classical music (the domain of Radio 3) or offer in-depth discussion or drama and although some book readings, comedy and arts coverage still remains on the station this is the remit of Radio 4. Jeremy Vine's weekday lunchtime show covers current and consumer affairs informally, a style pioneered by Jimmy Young. Until Radio 5 Live, Radio 2's medium wave frequencies carried the BBC's sports coverage. Radio 5 Live was positioned on Radio 2's mediumwave frequencies.

Like all BBC radio stations broadcasting to UK audiences, Radio 2 is funded by the television licence fee, and does not broadcast commercials.

BBC Radio 2's last closedown was at 02:02 on 27 January 1979. Sarah Kennedy (who later became a daily early-morning presenter from 1993 until her departure in August 2010) was at the Newsdesk after Brian Matthew finished "Round Midnight". From 02:00 to 05:00 the following night, listeners heard "You and the Night and the Music". Radio 2 has the longest period of continuous broadcasting of any national radio station in the UK.

The BBC Pips are broadcast at 07:00 and 08:00 on weekdays, then at 17:00.

BBC Radio 2 moved its studios from Broadcasting House to the adjacent Western House in 2005.^[6] Although the majority of programming comes from London, some shows are broadcast from other cities around the UK, including Birmingham and Manchester. For many years, the network's overnight presenters, such as Janice Long and Alex Lester, were based in Birmingham, but made the move to London in April 2008.

In February 2007, Radio 2 recruited Jeff Smith, director of UK and International programming at Napster and a former head of music at Radio 1, as its new head of music. Smith joined the network on 26 March.^[7]

The licence fee funding of Radio 2, alongside Radio 1 is often criticised by the commercial sector. In the first quarter of 2011, Radio 2 was part of an efficiency review conducted by John Myers.^[8] His role, according to Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of RadioCentre, was "to identify both areas of best practice and possible savings."^[8]

Presenters[link]

Stand-in presenters[link]

Additional staff[link]

Past presenters[link]

Controllers[link]

Controversy[link]

In April 1999, Radio 2 presenter Johnnie Walker was suspended from his drivetime show after allegations concerning a drug problem appeared in the Sunday tabloid, the News of the World. Walker had been the victim of a tabloid exposé over his cocaine problem.^[10] Bosses later reinstated him after he was fined £2,000 for possession of cocaine.

The presenter Sarah Kennedy has sometimes attracted controversy. In May 1999, she gave a bizarre performance while standing in for Terry Wogan, blaming the incident on a lack of sleep the previous night.^[11] Her slurred speech throughout her show on 13 August 2007 also made the headlines. She blamed a sore throat and later took a month-long break.^[12] It was later reported that Kennedy was recovering from pneumonia,^[13] and she returned to work on 10 September. In October 2007, she was reprimanded after joking that she had almost run over a black pedestrian because she couldn't see him in the dark. The BBC later apologised for the comment.^[14] She was also "spoken to" by BBC bosses after praising Enoch Powell during a show in July 2009, describing him as "the best prime minister this country never had".^[15]

On 16 October 2008, an episode of the Russell Brand Show, co-hosted by fellow Radio 2 presenter Jonathan Ross was recorded for transmission at a later date. The show included Brand and Ross leaving four prank messages on actor Andrew Sachs's answerphone including offensive remarks about his granddaughter and use of foul language. The programme was subsequently broadcast on Saturday 18 October, partially censored, having passed the various pre-transmission checks from the programme's editors. Initially, the programme only received a negligible number of complaints regarding Jonathan Ross' bad language; however, the incident was reported a week later by the Mail on Sunday and a public outcry soon ensued. The case was referred to both Ofcom and the BBC Trust, and in the interim, Ross and Brand were both suspended for 12 weeks from all BBC programmes pending investigation. Soon after these announcements, Russell Brand announced his resignation from the BBC shortly followed by the controller at the time, Lesley Douglas. Jonathan Ross was suspended from the BBC without pay for 12 weeks.^[16][17]

In July 2009, long time presenter Malcolm Laycock announced his resignation live on air following a long running dispute over the content of his show, Sunday Night at 10, and issues regarding his salary.^[18] He later criticised Radio 2 management for abandoning its older listeners and claimed to have been constructively dismissed by the station, although Radio 2 denied this was the case.^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• BBC Radio 2 on Facebook
• Media UK's BBC Radio 2 site including scheduled programming
• Radio Rewind's Radio 2 history
• R2OK! the Radio 2 Preservation Society
• Radio 2 Timeline/History
• Listen BBC Radio Latest Bulletins Listen to Business Bulletin

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Radio 2 may refer to:

• BBC Radio 2, a British national music radio station
• RTÉ 2fm, an Irish music radio station originally known as Radio 2
• Radio 2 (Australia): an Australian radio station
• Radio 2 (Belgium), a Belgian radio station
• CBC Radio 2, a Canadian national music radio network
• Radio 2 (Netherlands), a Dutch radio station
• Rai Radio 2, an Italian radio station
• CyBC Radio 2, Cyprus national radio
• Radio Dos, a Costa Rican radio station
• Radio 2, a UAE English music radio station covering Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the northern Emirates

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Tom Jones
Singing at House of Blues, Anaheim, California, 10 March 2009
Background information
Birth name	Thomas John Woodward
Also known as	Tom Jones
Born	(1940-06-07) 7 June 1940 (age 72) Treforest, Pontypridd, Wales
Genres	Pop, R&B, blues, blue-eyed soul
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Tower, Columbia, Decca, Parrot, Epic, Jive
Website	www.tomjones.com

Sir Thomas John Woodward,^[1][2] OBE^[3] (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.^[4] Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul and gospel^[5] – and sold over 100 million records.^[6]

Jones has had thirty-six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States; some of his notable songs include "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat", "Delilah", "Green, Green Grass of Home", "She's a Lady" and "Kiss".^[7][8]

Having been awarded an OBE in 1999, Jones received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music" in 2006.^[3] Jones has received numerous other awards throughout his career, including the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1966, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 2000, and an MTV Video Music Award.^[9][10][11] Aside from his musical career, Jones is currently a coach and mentor on television show The Voice UK.

Early life[link]

Tom Jones was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd in South Wales.^[12] His parents were Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner, and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003).^[13] His family was mainly of English descent, both of his paternal grandparents having been born in England and his maternal grandmother, Ada Jones from Pontypridd, having English parents.^[14]

Jones began singing at an early age: he would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings and in his school choir. Jones did not like school or sports but gained confidence through his singing talent.^[15] At 12 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Many years later he said; "I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life." During convalescence he could do little else but listen to music and draw.^[16]

Jones' bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R&B singers Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson and Brook Benton as well as Jerry Lee Lewis's music.^[17]

In March 1957 Jones married his high school girlfriend, Melinda Trenchard when they were expecting a child together, both aged 16. The couple had a son named Mark who was born the month following their wedding. To support his young family Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction.^[18]

Rise to fame[link]

Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales. In 1964 the group recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but they had little success. Later that year Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but the partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager and took the young singer to London, and also renamed him Tom Jones.^[19]

Eventually Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever", was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit after offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. In early 1965 "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States. During 1965 Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball.^[20] Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.^[10]

In 1966 Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into that of a crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the United Kingdom and began hitting the Top 40 again in the United States. For the remainder of the decade he scored a string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic.^[5][18][21]

Las Vegas[link]

In 1967 Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time, at the Flamingo.^[20] His performances and style of dress (increasingly featuring his open, half-unbuttoned shirts and tight trousers) became part of his stage act. He soon chose to record less, instead concentrating on his lucrative club performances. At Caesars Palace his shows were a knicker-hurling frenzy of sexually charged adulation and good-time entertainment. Women started throwing hotel room keys onto the stage. Jones and his idol Elvis Presley met in 1965 at the Paramount film stage, when Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style.^[20] They became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas and duetting until the early hours at Presley's private Las Vegas suite. The friendship endured until Presley's death in 1977.^[20] Jones' guitarist between 1969 and 1974 was Big Jim Sullivan, who also met and formed a friendship with Presley.

Tom Jones played at least one week in Las Vegas every year until 2011.

Television and lawsuits[link]

Jones had an internationally successful television variety show titled This Is Tom Jones from 1969 to 1971. The ATV-produced show, which was worth a reported $9m to Jones over three years, was broadcast by ITV in the UK and by ABC in America. From 1980 to 1981 he had a second television variety show, the eponymous Tom Jones, that was produced in Vancouver, Canada and lasted for 24 episodes.

In recent years both television shows have been the subject of litigation with the original license holder C/F International. As of December 2004 C/F International was a secured judgment creditor of Classic World Productions and its principal, Darryl Payne, for approximately one million US dollars, and was the principal secured creditor at the time of the subsequent bankruptcy filing by the company. C/F International's action against Classic World Productions and owner Darryl Payne was based on unpaid royalties from This Is Tom Jones,^[22] and related recordings.^[23] This Is Tom Jones is currently sold on DVD by Time-Life rather than by Classic World Productions or C/F International.^[24]

C/F International's rights to later Tom Jones material were also disputed. In March 2007 Tom Jones and Tom Jones Enterprises sued C/F International to stop the company from licensing sound recordings made from the 1981 Tom Jones series. It was contended that any rights that C/F International had to license the Tom Jones show did not include the right to make and license separate recordings of the performances on the show and that any rights that C/F International had in the Tom Jones show' no longer existed due to numerous breaches of contract.^[25] Examples of contentious CDs include "Live on the Tom Jones Show", released in 2006.^[26][27]

Jones appeared on 31 December 1969, on the BBC's review of the 1960s music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, performing "Delilah" (in a telerecording of an earlier appearance on Top of the Pops).

In 1970, Jones teamed up with Raquel Welch and Producer/Choreographer David Winters of Winters-Rosen Productions^[28] for the TV special Raquel!. The multi-million dollar TV song & dance extravaganza was filmed around the world and included production numbers of classic songs from the era, lavish costumes and guest performances from Jones, John Wayne and Bob Hope.^[29]

Decline and resurgence[link]

In the early 1970s Jones had a number of hit singles, including "She's A Lady", "Till", and "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer", but in the mid 1970s his popularity declined although he did have a big hit in 1976 with "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow" which went to No. 1 on the US country chart and No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the early 1980s Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986 he had nine songs in the US country top 40 yet failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or the Billboard Hot 100.^[30] After Jones' manager Gordon Mills died of cancer on 29 July 1986, Jones' son Mark became his manager.^[31] In 1987, Tom Jones re-entered the singles chart with "A Boy From Nowhere" which went to No. 2 in the United Kingdom. The following year he covered Prince's "Kiss" with The Art of Noise. The song was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching No. 5 in the UK and No. 31 in the US. The video for "Kiss" was much seen on MTV and VH1, and won the MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video.

Jones received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989, located at 6608 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California in front of Frederick's of Hollywood. In 1992 he made his first appearance at the UK's Glastonbury Festival and in 1993 he appeared as himself on episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Simpsons.

Jones signed with Interscope Records in 1993 and released the album The Lead And How To Swing It. The first single, "If I Only Knew," went to No. 11 in the UK.^[32] In 1997, Jones did the soundtrack for the comedy film The Full Monty, recording "You Can Leave Your Hat On".^[33]

In 1999 Jones released the album Reload, a collection of cover duets with artists such as The Cardigans, Natalie Imbruglia, Cerys Matthews, Van Morrison, Mousse T, Portishead, Stereophonics, and Robbie Williams. The album went to No. 1 in the UK and sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Five singles from Reload hit the UK top 40.^[30][34]

Into the 21st century[link]

United States President Bill Clinton invited Jones to perform on New Year's Eve at the 2000 millennium celebrations in Washington, D.C. Throughout 2000 Jones garnered a number of honours for his work including a BRIT Award for Best Male. He was also hired as the new voice of Australia's National Rugby League, singing in an advertisement to market the 2000 season.^[35]

In 2002 Jones released the album Mr. Jones, which was produced by Wyclef Jean. The album and the first single, "Tom Jones International", were top 40 hits in the UK.^[36]

Jones received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2003. The following year, he teamed up with pianist Jools Holland and released Tom Jones & Jools Holland, a roots rock 'n' roll album. It peaked at No. 5 in the UK.^[30][37]

On 28 May 2005, in celebration of his approaching 65th birthday, Jones returned to his homeland to perform a concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd before a crowd of about 20,000. This was his first performance in Pontypridd since 1964.^[38] That same year the BBC reported that Jones was Wales' wealthiest entertainer, having amassed a fortune of £175 million.^[39] Jones collaborated with English-born Australian pop singer John Farnham in 2005 and released the live album John Farnham & Tom Jones - Together In Concert. The following year Jones worked with Chicane and released the dance track "Stoned in Love", which went to No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart.^[30]

Jones, who was awarded an OBE in 1999, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 at Buckingham Palace for his services to music. "When you first come into show business and get a hit record, it is the start of something", Jones said. "As time goes by it just gets better. This is the best thing I have had. It's a wonderful feeling, a heady feeling."^[40]

2007–09[link]

On 1 July 2007 Jones was among the invited artists who performed at Wembley Stadium at the Concert for Diana, joined on stage by guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith and British soul singer Joss Stone. In addition to performing some of his own songs the group covered Arctic Monkeys' "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor".^[41] Jones, a boxing fan, has performed national anthems before a number of boxing matches. He sang "God Save the Queen", the United Kingdom's national anthem, before the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton fight in 2007, he sang "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", the Welsh national anthem, at the fight between fellow Welshman Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins in 2008, and he sang "God Save the Queen" before the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in 2009.^[42][43][44]

In 2008 he released 24 Hours on S-Curve Records, his first album of new material to be issued in the US for over 15 years. Jones, who was still performing over 200 dates a year as he approached his 70th birthday, set out on a world tour to promote the album. "The fire is still in me. Not to be an oldie, but a goodie. I want to be a contender," Jones said.^[45][46][47] In 2008 also Tom Jones was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. On 16 November 2008 Jones was invited to perform on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing. He performed the debut single from 24 Hours, "If He Should Ever Leave You", which was named the 9th best song of 2008 by Spinner.^[48][49][50] One of the songs from 24 Hours, "Give a Little Love", would later be featured in the first trailer for Little Fockers.

In February 2009 he did an exclusive Take-Away Show with Vincent Moon, performing three songs live in front of a camera in a New York hotel room.^[51] In 2009 Jones was voted "Sexiest Man In The World" in the Hungarian magazine Periodika.^[52]

In March 2009 Jones went to the top of the UK Music Charts for the third time in his career thanks to a cover of "Islands in the Stream", sung with Ruth Jones, Rob Brydon and Robin Gibb, who co-wrote the original with his brothers Barry and Maurice. The song, inspired by BBC's hit sitcom Gavin and Stacey, was released in aid of Comic Relief and reached No. 1 in March 2009.^[53]

2010–present[link]

On 5 June 2010 a performance at Norwich City Football Club's Carrow Road stadium, two days before he celebrated his 70th birthday, was cancelled due to incomplete improvements to the stadium. Jones announced that his new album Praise & Blame would be released on 26 July 2010. The album, produced by Ethan Johns (who has previously worked with Kings Of Leon, Rufus Wainwright and Laura Marling), would include covers of songs by Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Billy Joe Shaver, and feature such guest musicians as Booker T.^[54]

On Jones' 70th birthday, 7 June 2010, the single "Burning Hell", a cover of the John Lee Hooker classic, from the forthcoming Praise & Blame album, was released. In July 2010 it was reported, however, that David Sharpe, vice-president of Island Records (to whom Jones had moved, from EMI, for £1.5m in October 2009), had emailed colleagues demanding that they "pull back this project immediately or get my money back" and asking if the record had been "a sick joke".^[55] Jones later attacked Sharpe and revealed that he was furious about the leaked email.^[56]

In July 2010 Jones appeared on the penultimate episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and performed "Burning Hell". In August 2010, Praise & Blame debuted at number 2 on the UK album chart.^[57]

On 11 September 2010 Jones performed for an audience of 50,000 at the Help for Heroes charity concert at Twickenham Stadium performing "Strange Things Are Happening Every Day" and his classic hit "Green Green Grass of Home". On 22 September, Jones appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. Last year he ditched his hair dye and declared he'd moved onto a new stage in his life: "Over Christmas, I always take a month off and let my hair go and don't even shave. "Normally it comes out like salt and pepper which I hated. But this year it grew out a silver colour, so I kept it because it's more distinguished", he said.^[58]

In May 2011 Jones appeared as guest vocalist on the debut album Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie. On 15 May 2011 he appeared alongside Laurie in the UK ITV series Perspectives, singing music from the album in New Orleans.^[59] On 25 May 2011, he appeared on American Idol after a medley of his hits performed by the American Idol "Top 13".^[60]