Jont

Jonathan Mark Smith Whittington (born 17 August 1973), known as Jont, is an English singer, songwriter and musician.

Early life

Dividing his youth between the United States and England, Jont first started writing poems aged fourteen.Verzeletti, Christian
Jont Interview 18/12/02
. Mescalina. Retrieved 25 September 2008. While still a teenager, he toured the US conducting interviews with a series of prominent American poets including Allen Ginsberg and Jonathan Williams. Returning to England at age eighteen, Whittington began playing for Middlesex as a slow left-arm spinner and Phil Tufnell's number two. He made a single first-class appearance for the county against Cambridge University at Fenner's in 1992. During this period, he attended Manchester University to study English and American literature.

Music career

1998–2010

Frustrated with the limited reception his poetry was achieving, Whittington started performing as a musician in the groups Your Baby and Funnybone before going solo. After leaving University he moved to London, attaining a residency at the 12 Bar Club which he called Unlit. Over the next five years he would play host to and perform with such artists as Tom Baxter, Polly Paulusma, Solomon (later to become The Duke Spirit), Boo Hewerdine, Archie Bronson Outfit, Adem and Antonio Forcione.

During this time Whittington recorded his first albums, ''Life Is Fine'' and ''28'' on his own label Unlit Records.

In 2003, Whittington moved to New York whereupon he began regularly performing with artists such as Joan As Policewoman and Artanker Convoy. During this period he was taken under the wing of Fleetwood Mac manager Tony Dimitriades in Los Angeles and, after moving to Hollywood, began working with several producers including Tom Rothrock, Bill Laswell and Mushroom from Massive Attack.

In 2005, he released the EP ''One Long Song'' which was awarded four stars from '' Q''. The track, "You Can Be The Stars", was given high rotation on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show and Whittington appeared on the show to perform live. His cover of Goldfrapp's "Number 1" was subsequently released on the compilation album '' The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show''. The song "Sweetheart" from the EP was used during the end credits of the Hollywood comedy ''Wedding Crashers''. In mid 2006, Whittington toured the United States. Following this tour at the invitation of the BBC performed as part of the Electric Proms.BBC Electric Proms – Next Stage Tour
/ref>Huw Stephen
BBC Electric Proms Blog
BBC.co.uk

2008 saw the release of the album ''Supernatural'', recorded in Paris and London. In September, the track "Another Door Closes" was featured in the season 5 premiere of the US medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' and received airplay from Jonathan Ross on BBC Radio 2.

In March 2009, the track "Don't Waste All Your Tears" was featured in Season Seven of CBS primetime show ''Without a Trace'', and the song "Sweetheart" was featured in Season Five of ''Grey's Anatomy'' in April.

Jont released his third studio album ''Set It Free'' in May 2010 followed by his fourth album ''Whole Again'' in November 2010 – the first to be released solely thoroughly through his own webstore.

2013–present

In 2012, Jont relocated from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia, titling his fifth album ''Hello Halifax'' to mark the occasion.

Taking a break to focus on fatherhood, Jont returned in 2017 with ''An Old Innocence'', recording and performing the album live with a full band called The Infinite Possibility. The album was recorded by Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire)

In 2019, Jont released his seventh album ''Gentle Warrior'', showcasing a quieter singing style that allowed him to sing "from a place inside that felt more connected to my true essence."

''Thank You for the Medicine'' was released in 2020 in collaboration with musicians from around the world. The album which blends electronic beats with choir and string arrangements was mixed by Grammy Award winning engineer Mark Lawson. Jont calls this new sound "medicine pop."

In 2024, Jont released ''Old Traveller,'' an album of medicine songs inspired by his experiences with Vipassana meditation and Ayahuasca.

Jont is joined by his band The Fish on his newest album ''Walk Right Through'' which is scheduled for release in 2025. The album was mixed by Adam Fuest at Twin Peaks Studio in Wales, UK and will be released on Julian Taylor's Howling Turtle label.

Unlit

In the summer of 2006, Whittington posted a message on his Myspace profile essentially inviting people to offer their homes as venues for his tour of US – a concept simply tagged ''Unlit''. Cameraman Dave Depares joined him to document the tour, and the resulting ten-part video blog series was posted on YouTube entitled ''The State We're In''.

From April to May 2008, Whittington and Depares filmed a second ten-part series of their video blog, this time entitled ''The House We're In'' and taking Unlit to Myspace user's houses in the UK.

Shortly after this UK telecoms company Orange commissioned a third series of the show, called ''The Road We're On'', as part of their "I Am Everyone" campaign. Episodes were premiered on Myspace a week before being posted on YouTube. Eight episodes were posted, plus a twenty-minute retrospective documentary, which was posted on Dailymotion.

The Unlit series has been viewed by over two million people.

In October 2008, in conjunction with the BBC Radio 2's Dermot O'Leary show and the BBC's Electric Proms, the Unlit series culminated in an Electric Proms/Unlit event in North London.Author Unknown
BBC Radio 2 – Dermot O'Leary
BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2008.

"Unlit has developed from an underground movement to a viral phenomenon worldwide" – The Guardian

Gentle Warrior Ceremonies

A natural evolution from the UNLIT concept, in 2019 Jont started performing Sacred Song Ceremonies in keeping with his newfound direction of tapping into the power of music to heal. Described as "gatherings of song and ceremony where the music serves as a unifying energy for connection, celebration and healing", they are held in conscious spaces such as yoga studios and often feature collaborators who offer meditation, mantras or other forms of healing sound. Ceremony tours have taken place across Eastern Canada and Europe.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Walk Right Through'' (Howling Turtle) (2025)
* ''Old Traveller'' (Unlit Records) (2024)
* ''Thank You for the Medicine'' (Unlit Records) (2020)
* ''Gentle Warrior'' (Unlit Records) (2019)
* ''An Old Innocence'' (Unlit Records) (2017)
* ''Hello Halifax'' (Unlit Records) (2012)
* ''Whole Again'' (Unlit Records) (2010)
* ''Set It Free'' (Unlit Records) (2010)
* ''Supernatural'' (Unlit Records) (2008)
* ''One Long Song'' (Everybody's Records) (2005)
* ''Everything You Need To Know About Life in 74 minutes'' (Private) (2002 Italy, 200 copies made for Italian tour)
* ''28'' (Unlit Records) (2002 Italy, 2008 Rest of World)
* ''Life Is Fine'' (1998)

Live albums

* ''A Spaceship on the Ocean Floor'' (Unlit Records) (2019)

Single releases

References

External links

*

Official Site

Official Profile
on MySpace

Unlit Page
featuring all three series of the video blog – ''The State We're In'', ''The House We're In'' and ''The Road We're On''

Orange Unlit Tour
central website

at ESPNcricinfo
Jonathan Whittington
at CricketArchive

{{Authority control

1973 births
Living people
People educated at Eton College
Musicians from the City of Westminster
People from Marylebone
English cricketers
Middlesex cricketers
English male singer-songwriters
English singer-songwriters
English rock guitarists
British alternative rock musicians
British alternative rock guitarists
English male guitarists
21st-century English singers
21st-century British guitarists
21st-century British male singers
Singers from the City of Westminster