Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones
Jones performing at the Tsunami Relief Cardiff charity concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in 2005
Born	Kelly Jones (1974-06-03) 3 June 1974 Cwmaman, Wales, UK
Occupation	Singer-songwriter guitarist
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Jakki Healy
Partner(s)	Rebecca Walters (2003–2007)
Children	3
Musical career
Genres	Rock post-britpop Soul
Instruments	Vocals guitar piano
Labels	Stylus Records
Associated acts	Stereophonics
Website	stereophonics.com

Kelly Jones (born 3 June 1974) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, lead guitarist and director and the lead singer of the band Stereophonics. Influenced by classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd, The Who, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Sex Pistols,^[1] Jones is noted for his raspy voice, which has been described as "whiskey"^[2] and has drawn criticism as well as acclaim.^[3] As a lyricist, Jones is influenced by Neil Young, Bob Catley, Bob Dylan and Otis Redding.^[1]

Early life and début

Kelly Jones was born youngest of three boys for Beryl and Arwyn Jones in the small Welsh ex-mining village of Cwmaman, spending his childhood with them and his two older brothers, Kevin and Lee. Both of his parents worked in factories. His father coached youth football and pursued his own singing career. The name of Arwyn's backing band, Oscar and the Kingfishers, earned him the nickname 'Oscar' among friends and family. He went on to secure a record deal with Polydor, who renamed him 'Arwyn Davidson' due to the sheer number of Joneses in the music business at the time. Despite making multiple recordings, sharing The Hollies' manager and supporting slots with the likes of Roy Orbison, Arwyn had minimal mainstream success and only released a few singles (including a cover of the Graham Nash song "Simple Man").^[4] During Jones' youth his uncle, a boxing referee, got him interested in the sport, and he later competed at a high level in South Wales. Following this Jones moved onto football, where he played for his county. Jones grew up in the village of Cwmaman, near Aberdare, where he became friends with neighbours, Stuart Cable and Richard Jones, with whom he formed, in 1992, one of a string of covers bands.

Jones' talent for writing was apparent in his youth. He studied film at college and considered becoming a scriptwriter - attracting interest from the BBC for his work - before focusing on music.^[5] As his band progressed from covers to performing original material, Jones brought his gift for narrative to his lyrics. He also flirted with the idea of career in boxing, and was a successful fighter at junior levels.^[6]

There is a strong autobiographical thread to Jones' writing on Stereophonics' 1997 debut album, Word Gets Around, including an account of his teenage years working on a market stall, "More Life in a Tramps Vest".

Career

In 1996, after several years on the south Wales live circuit, Stereophonics were the first band to be signed to Richard Branson's new Virgin Records label V2. Their debut EP Looks Like Chaplin was not pressed in enough numbers to qualify for the charts, and their next single Local Boy in the Photograph peaked one place shy of the UK Top 50. However, their debut LP Word Gets Around, helped by a busy touring schedule that included a support slot on fellow Welsh band Manic Street Preachers' 1996–97 tour, made it to number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.

In February 1998, Stereophonics received a Brit Award for Best New Group^[7], the same week as a re-issue of Local Boy in the Photograph made number 14 in the charts^[8] and their first album went gold in the UK, selling 100,000 copies. During that year the band toured in Europe, Australia and the US, the highlight of which was a concert on 12 June 1998 at Cardiff Castle that was filmed for release. They performed a cover of the Randy Newman song "Mama Told Me Not to Come" with Tom Jones for his album Reload.

After another tour, they re-entered the studios and recorded Just Enough Education to Perform, containing the single "Mr. Writer" and "Have a Nice Day", and "Step on My Old Size Nines". A cover of Rod Stewart's version of Mike D'Abo's song "Handbags & Gladrags" was added to later editions of the album. They also recorded their biggest audience to date when they played to 80,000 in Slane Castle in Ireland and ending with a Christmas show at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, supported by Feeder and Ocean Colour Scene – who they had supported years before. They released their fourth studio album You Gotta Go There to Come Back with songs like "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Madame Helga" and a re-worked song that had not been completed in time, "Moviestar". They re-issued the album with this track included.

In 2002, the band was chosen as a support act for Counting Crows and toured on various UK dates with the band. Subsequently, Jones would join the band on stage and perform "Mr. Jones" and "Hanginaround" alongside Adam Duritz.

Kelly Jones and the Stereophonics September 2007

In 2003, whilst on tour in Germany, drummer Stuart Cable – who by this time had his own television chat show on BBC Wales – was sacked from the band by Jones, citing problems over "commitment". Cable was replaced temporarily on the remainder of the tour by Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman. According to Stuart, "I kept pluggin' away. I knew when we started we weren't very good and I was waiting for it to get better. It was becoming obvious that wasn't going to happen and I said so. Kelly didn't like that".

Stereophonics' fifth studio album Language. Sex. Violence. Other? was released in March 2005. This marked their first recording with new drummer Javier Weyler, the band's former studio engineer, whom they had made permanent in the band after asking him to fill in on the drums for some early Language. Sex. Violence. Other? recordings. The band had their first number 1 hit in the UK singles chart with the album's first release, the upbeat "Dakota", in which Kelly spent much of the video driving in dark sunglasses. The second single from the album, "Superman" peaked at number 13 in the UK charts. After this release came "Devil", which was promoted by a controversial video, reaching number 11 in the charts.

In January 2005, Kelly Jones performed a solo set at the Tsunami Relief Cardiff charity concert at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the biggest live music charity concert since 1985's Live Aid, which also featured artists such as Eric Clapton.

On 2 July 2005, the group took a break from their sold out world tour and appeared at the Live 8 concert, in Hyde Park, London, performing to 240,000 people – their biggest audience yet.

Stereophonics did not resurface until later the following year where they began recording for the sixth studio album Pull The Pin which was released on 15 October 2007. Pull The Pin is an album that returns to the band's classic rock roots evident in the first album and the influence of 1970s rock can be heard in numerous tracks.

Equipment

Jones playing his Cherry Red Gibson SG.

Jones playing his Gibson Les Paul Goldtop.

Jones uses British style amps including models by Matchless and Badcat as well as the Vox AC30.

He uses limited FX pedals, but in solos he has used a Dunlop CryBaby wah. He also uses Boss effects pedals, including a chorus, delay, flange, phaser and various distortion pedals, although he is gradually relying on distortion pedals less and just using amp switching pedals using the built in crunch and clean settings, mainly using his AC30 for clean work and his other 2 amps for distortion.

His main guitar is a cherry red Gibson SG, now widely known as the "Kellycaster". Jones also occasionally uses a Gibson CS-336, and a Fender Stratocaster. His Fender Jaguar was used extensively on Language Sex Violence Other, and has been used on occasion while touring. Jones owns a Telecaster-style guitar built by Manson Guitars^[10] He is also known to use a goldtop Gibson Les Paul occasionally, especially on heavier tracks such as "Bartender and the Thief" and "Vegas Two Times". His acoustic guitar of choice is a Gibson J150 and he is rarely seen using anything else, although he owns various other Gibsons and Takamines.

Controversy

Jones has had a troubled relationship with the media and they have often criticised him, his contribution to music, and his vocal abilities.^[3] Jones has generated headlines several times by criticising other musical artists – most notably Radiohead frontman and solo artist Thom Yorke. Jones criticised Yorke's attitude in a 2002 interview due to what he felt was complaining about touring on Radiohead's 1998 home video release, Meeting People Is Easy. He said: "We can all relate to that video – y'know, having to do a hundred fucking idents for radio stations – but that doesn't mean you've got to walk around and be a miserable twat to everybody. Which is what Thom Yorke is mostly."^[11][12] He later expressed regret for this comment, since he was in fact a fan of Yorke.^[13]

Jones is known for his cynical view of manufactured pop and has also criticised reality shows such as Popstars and The X Factor, as well as manufactured bands such as Hear'Say.^[14]

Personal life

Jones met his first girlfriend, Emma Dunn, a hairdresser, at the age of 15. They stayed together for almost 12 years and just before they split up, they had become engaged. In 2002, Jones went to his friend and band photographer Julian Castaldi's home, kicked down his front door, smashed his window with a brick and then vandalised his two cars with a scaffolding pole, whilst under the influence of alcohol. This was because Jones had recently discovered that Castaldi was courting Dunn, four weeks after they had ended their long-term relationship. Castaldi called the police and consequently Jones was arrested. However Castaldi did not press charges, leaving Kelly Jones with a £2000 fine for damages. Jones commented that "What I did was completely out of character – but what he did was wrong", later writing the song "Rainbows and Pots of Gold" in response to the event.^[15][16]

After splitting from Dunn, Jones dated an interior designer, Rebecca "Becka" Walters. In October 2004, Rebecca and Kelly had their first child together, Lolita Bootsy Jones.^[17] In January 2007, they had another daughter called Misty Jones. Rebecca and Kelly split shortly after the birth of Misty. He is married to MTV journalist Jakki Healy since late 2013 and they have one daughter called Riley. They have been together since 2008. Unlike numerous musicians and entertainers, Jones and his family have a low profile in tabloid media coverage. Stuart Cable claimed that it was differences between his then-partner Lisa Rogers and Kelly Jones' partner Rebecca Walters at the time which violently came to a head publicly at a restaurant in Paris, eventually leading to his sacking by Jones after he made a sarcastic joke about the incident the following day, although Cable was reportedly missing many concerts as he was in a "cocaine clinic".^[18] Jones and Cable patched-up their differences a year after they split, being in regular contact for the 5 years prior to Cable's death, and even performing on stage with bass player Richard Jones, at a long serving Stereophonics crew member and mutual friend's wedding. Both Cable and Jones were due to meet for a drink on the day of Cable's death, which was also the day after Stereophonics played their highly anticipated Cardiff Stadium gig.

Jones is known for his preference of wearing vintage clothing, and owns at least twenty leather jackets.^[19]

Discography

References

External links

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