Growing up, Jonathan was a fanatical football player and set his mind on becoming a pro. He played for Everton youth, but at the age of 15 was told told he wasn’t good enough and didn’t get offered a contract. He did, however, get offers from other teams such as Crewe and Chester, but his heart wasn’t in it and he decided not to sign. You can still catch him showing off his footballing skills today for various charities, including the famous Music Industry Soccer Six and more recently on the Sky One tv show ‘the Match’. Just as his dreams of becoming a professional football player were shattered Jonathan discovered he had another hidden talent - his voice - and decided to try his luck at singing. As he says himself: “I wasn’t really clued up on singing but when I had my tonsils out when I was fifteen I discovered I had a voice and it just went from there really!” In 1996, Jonathan won the ‘Cameron Mackintosh Young Entertainer of the Year’ award singing Tom Jones’ classic ‘Kiss’, and headed to Blackpool as the youngest person to star in their own show at the Pleasure Beach. After three successful years at Blackpool, Jonathan was offered a presenting job for the BBC Choice programme ‘Hype’ and moved to London. As a presenter Jonathan interviewed many famous people, including the Corrs and Boyzone, but it never felt right. He always wanted to be the star, not the presenter. Whilst in London, Jonathan’s dream came one step closer as he signed a record deal with Innocent Records, following a fierce bidding war between several major record companies. He soon set to work on an album, and his debut single ‘Just Another Day’ was released on March 5th 2001, entering the UK charts at number 24 and the top ten in several European countries. Following the release of his first single Jonathan became slightly disillusioned with the music industry and took some time out; he wanted to perform live, not mime to the same three minute song. It wasn’t long however, before Jonathan was back into the limelight performing ‘Me and my Shadow’ at the Royal Albert Hall alongside fellow Potteries singer and best mate Robbie Williams. This proved a big turning point in Jonathan’s career. He received a fantastic response and people suddenly realised he was talented and knew how to work a crowd. From then on the stage beckoned for Jonathan and he took to the road with the musical Godspell, alternating the leading roles of Jesus and Judas with Daniel Macpherson. Godspell proved to be a great success and Jonathan received rave reviews for his performances. Godspell came to an end in June 2002 and Jonathan took a long deserved holiday before starting rehearsals for yet another leading role… Wearing a basque, fishnets and suspenders Jonathan could be seen playing the role of Dr. Frank N Furter in the cult musical ‘The Rocky Horror Show’. The show toured the country from October 2002 until November 2003 and had never before sold so many tickets. Jonathan said an emotional goodbye to the show in his home-town of Stoke-on-Trent, to prepare for his third stage show. In the meantime Jonathan signed a 3-year-deal with ITV and became the new host of You’ve Been Framed, and co-presented the first series of the dating show ‘Love on a Saturday night’. He also appeared in other shows, such as ‘Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes’, where he sang the Neil Diamond song ‘Hello’, impressing both the studio audience and the viewers at home and got voted the winner as a result. Two weeks after finishing the Rocky Horror Tour, Jonathan was back on stage at the Manchester Palace Theatre. This time without the fishnets and suspenders, but wearing a leather jacket instead, as he starred as Danny Zuko in the hit musical Grease. In January he took a break from the show to concentrate on his tv work, but joined the touring cast from May until late August. Jonathan was often described as the ‘star of the show’ by professional journalists. When Grease finished Jonathan took part in the Sky One TV show ‘the Match’ where he saw his dream come true when he, amongst other celebrities, played a football match against a team of legends, including Paul Gascoigne. The match followed a week of intensive training and living together with his team mates. Jonathan was made captain by the old England manager Graham Taylor, and scored an amazing goal against the legends! Jonathan made a long-awaited return to the stage in February 2005 for a national tour of The Who’s famous rock opera Tommy. Tommy was a challenging role for Jonathan as the part was very different to any other role he had done, but received excellent reviews! Next up for Jonathan was another presenting job; during bank holiday August 2005, Jonathan will be an on-course presenter for the All Star Cup, a celebrity golf tournament which will be broadcast on Sky One. Then Jonathan had a few quiet months which he spent preparing for his next venture that brought him back to Stoke-on-Trent. He co-wrote and starred in the pantomime ‘Mother Goose’ as Billy Goose at the Regent Theatre, which won an award for the best pantomime of its season! Ticket sales went through the roof and the panto received the thumbs up from the critics as well as the audience! | |
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