Lesley-Ann Jones is an English 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 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, 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 a weekly column for The Sun. 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 star acts of the day. As a freelance feature writer, her contributions to publications in the UK, US, 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 US. 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 was due to coincide with the release of a Mercury biopic to commemorate the late singer's 21st anniversary. However, production of the film was delayed, and it was not released until 2018. In 2010, she was appointed Showbusiness Editor for SKY/Freesat's music channelVintage TV. She wrote and presented their celebrity interview series 'Me & Mrs Jones' In December 2015, she wrote and co-produced 'The Last Lennon Interview' for ShowBiz TV. 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.
