Mai Jones (6 February 1899 – 7 May 1960), was a Welsh

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers

* Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Barker (occupation), Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Cheerleader * Circus arts, Circus perform ...

and

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

Biography

Jones was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, the daughter of the local railway stationmaster. Having won a scholarship to study music at the

University of Wales, Cardiff Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

, she went on to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. Her early successes included being selected as one of the official accompanists for the

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

in 1924. Singing and playing both

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

, she began to make a name for herself as an entertainer in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and broadcast on radio for the first time with Jack Payne's band. During the 1920–30s, she also contributed the contralto voice to a well-known and often broadcast singing duo called The Carroll Sisters, with Elsie Eaves (soprano). In 1941, she 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 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

as a radio producer of light entertainment programmes. Programmes produced by her included ''

Welsh Rarebit Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit ( or ) is a dish of hot cheese sauce, often including ale, mustard, or Worcestershire sauce, served on toasted bread. The origins of the name are unknown, though the earliest recorded use is 1725 as "Welsh ra ...

'' and ''Saturday Starlight''. As part of the wartime Cardiff artistic and music community Mai had known Idloes Owen, also a composer, arranger and conductor, who performed with the pre-war Lyrian Singers. Idloes went on to found the

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

in 1943. He was instrumental in providing Mai with a musical score written originally by a fellow Lyrian performer, Thomas Morgan. Mai then collaborated with lyricists Lyn Joshua and James Harper to create the now Welsh standard "

We'll Keep a Welcome "We'll Keep a Welcome" is a popular song composed by Mai Jones with lyrics by Lyn Joshua and Jimmy Harper in 1940. It was introduced in the BBC radio variety show ''Welsh Rarebit'' and remains strongly associated with Wales. Jones joined the ...

". It had its début on 29 February 1940; the BBC's resident 25-strong male voice choir, the Lyrian Singers, performed the new song. It was an overnight success. Successful songs written by Mai Jones included: "Blackbirds" (1924), "Wondering If You Remember" (1927), "We'll Keep a Welcome" (1940), "Nos Da/Good night" (1946) and "Rhondda Rhapsody" (1951). In 1947, she married a singer, David Davies. She retired from the BBC in 1958 and died not long afterwards as a result of a head injury. Her husband outlived her. A plaque commemorating her was unveiled in 2010 at the couple's former home in St Marks Crescent, Newport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Mai 1899 births 1960 deaths Welsh women songwriters 20th-century Welsh women singers Welsh women pianists Welsh contraltos Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of the Royal College of Music BBC radio producers People from Newport, Wales 20th-century British pianists British women radio producers Welsh radio producers 20th-century British women pianists