Sir Leslie Ronald Young , known professionally as Jimmy Young (21 September 1921 – 7 November 2016), was an English singer, disc jockey and

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

. Early in his career in the 1950s he had two number ones, "

Unchained Melody "Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film '' Unchained'' (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.Robert ...

" and " The Man from Laramie", both in 1955, and several other top ten hits in the UK chart, but he became better known for his long-running show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, The JY Prog, which ran from 1973 until 2002.

Early life

Young was born in Cinderford,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. The son of a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

and a dressmaker, he attended East Dean Grammar School. Young nearly died from

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

, double pneumonia and

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

as a child. He excelled at boxing and rugby, playing for Cinderford RFC and later turning down a place with Wigan's rugby league team. After his parents divorced in 1939, he left for

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

to work as an electrician. Young later joined the RAF, becoming a PT instructor, staying until 1949.

Singing career

Young signed to the new Polygon Records in 1950, joining

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he ...

and Dorothy Squires. All his recordings on the label were conducted by Ron Goodwin. Goodwin later said he always liked working with Young "because he was always so enthusiastic. He thought everything we did was going to be a hit." The most popular was " Too Young" which he recorded in 1951, but this was before the days of UK record charts which didn't start until November 1952, so the record books do not list it. The song was a big

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

seller at the time and was a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

original. There were also two duets with Petula Clark that year, " Mariandl" (b/w "Broken Heart"). In 1952, he signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with Decca. Young enjoyed Top 10 successes with "Eternally", " Chain Gang" and " More" (with which he surpassed

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

's American original in the British Singles Chart listings). His most successful year as a recording artist was 1955, when "Unchained Melody" (from the film '' Unchained'') and "The Man from Laramie" (from the film of the same name) were both number one hits. He returned to the UK Top 20 after a lengthy absence in 1963 with "Miss You" and continued to release singles until the late 1960s. However, after the success of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, he became anxious, depressed and increasingly dependent on sleeping pills. In February 1960, he started to have thoughts of suicide, and one friend told him to see an astrologer, Katina Theodossiou. Young said later, that "She said I was going to be a great success...there is absolutely no way with your chart you can commit suicide. In actual fact you're going to be around so long they're going to have to take you off the field and shoot you". Young later credited her with saving his career. Young said "She forecast that my future lay in interviewing people, not singing".

Disc jockey and radio broadcaster

After a period with

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, Young joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He became a host of '' Housewives' Choice'', on the BBC Light Programme, and later he became one of the first disc jockeys on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

, presenting the weekday mid-morning show from 1967 to 1973. He then joined

in 1973, where he presented a daily lunchtime news and current affairs programme. The show (which he referred to as "The JY Prog"), ran from 2 July 1973 to 20 December 2002. He developed a popular approach to current affairs and regularly interviewed

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

while she was Prime Minister. He broadcast from around the world, including several live shows from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, the first in 1977, and interviewed every British Prime Minister from 1964 to 2010. His theme music was "Town Talk" by Ken Woodman & His Piccadilly Brass. BFN ('Bye for now') was one of his

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

s. Although he was offered the opportunity to present a weekend current affairs programme, he turned it down. His radio slot was taken over by the former '' Newsnight'' presenter, Jeremy Vine. Shortly after leaving and retiring from the BBC, Young wrote a newspaper column criticising his former employer for instances of "brutality", and making clear that it had not been his idea to leave. He declined lunch with his successor and the pair never met. He continued to write a weekly column for the '' Sunday Express'' newspaper until he retired from this role in November 2014. He did present a Christmas Day show in 2003 on BBC Radio Gloucestershire. On the same day he also appeared on 'Loose Ends' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. Young returned to

in 2011 with a special one-hour programme in celebration of his 90th birthday. ''Sir Jimmy Young at 90'', broadcast on 20 September 2011, heard him in conversation with his friend and former sparring partner Ken Bruce, looking back over his career. In March 2012 Young returned to presenting on Radio 2 after over nine years when he joined Desmond Carrington on a weekly show entitled ''Icons of the '50s''. His final radio appearance was in February 2016 when he gave a brief tribute to his former colleague Sir

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

on Radio 2's '' Jeremy Vine Show'', the programme that replaced Young's in 2003.

Awards

Young was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, and promoted to

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. In the 2002 New Year Honours, he was knighted for services to radio broadcasting.

Autobiography

His first autobiography, ''J.Y.: The Autobiography of Jimmy Young'', was published by W.H. Allen in 1974. His second autobiography, ''Forever Young: The Autobiography'', was published by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

in 2003. In addition he wrote a book in 1982 simply entitled 'Jimmy Young' that concentrated on his broadcasting career.

Death

According to a family spokesman, Young died "peacefully at home" in the afternoon of 7 November 2016, aged 95, with his wife Alicia by his side.

Books

* *

Discography

*" Too Young" – (1951) *" Faith Can Move Mountains" – (1953) – UK Number 11 *" Eternally" – (1953, music by

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered ...

, words by Geoff Parsons) – UK Number 8 *"

" – (1955) – UK Number 1 (with Bob Sharples and His Music, Decca: F10502) *" The Man from Laramie" – (1955) – UK Number 1 (with Bob Sharples and His Music, Decca: F10597) *"Someone on Your Mind" – (1955) – UK Number 13 (with Bob Sharples and His Music) ( Decca: F10640; US London 1639) *"Chain Gang" – (1956) – UK Number 9 *" Wayward Wind" – (1956) – UK Number 27 *"Rich Man Poor Man" – (1956) – UK Number 25 *" More" – (1956) – UK Number 4 *" Round and Round" – (1957) – UK Number 30 (with the Mike Sammes Singers) *" Miss You" – (1963) – UK Number 15 *"Unchained Melody" (re-recording) – (1964) – UK Number 43 (with the Mike Sammes Singers)

References

External links

*
Obituary: Jimmy Young
– a BBC News obituary, 7 November 2016 *
Sir Jimmy's radio days
– BBC News profile, 20 December 2002

(a song used by Jimmy Young in his radio days)

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jimmy 1921 births 2016 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Military personnel from Gloucestershire BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Decca Records artists English autobiographers English male singers English radio DJs Knights Bachelor Musicians from Gloucestershire Music in Gloucestershire People educated at East Dean Grammar School People from Cinderford Pye Records artists Radio Luxembourg (English) presenters Singers awarded knighthoods Traditional pop music singers Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors