Stephen Jones (born 16 September 1962) is an English musician and novelist.

Career

Lo-fi period

After studying at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

, Jones became involved with an

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...

company, Dogs in Honey, in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in the late 1980s, writing songs for productions. By 1994, Jones had written over 400 songs and gained a publishing contract with

Chrysalis Music Chrysalis Music is a British independent music publisher. The company's roots started in west London in 1967 when Chris Wright and Terry Ellis formed the Ellis-Wright Agency. It was formed to manage and book the bands Ten Years After, Clouds an ...

. However, he was unable to gain a recording contract, and formed a plan to self-finance the release of a series of albums featuring his home demos, limited to 1,000 copies of each, under the name Baby Bird. The first of these was '' I Was Born a Man'', released in August 1995.

Babybird the band

During the second half of 1995, Jones toured under the name

Babybird Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first use ...

with Huw Chadbourne (keyboards), Robert Gregory (drums), John Pedder (bass) and Luke Scott (guitar). Two further collections of demos were released, '' Bad Shave'' and ''

Fatherhood A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fathe ...

'' (a fourth album, '' The Happiest Man Alive'' was released in early 1996). Babybird were signed to

Echo Records The Echo Label was a British record label started by Chrysalis Group in 1994, and linked with Pony Canyon in Japan. The Chrysalis Group were the original owners of Chrysalis Records, which they sold to EMI. In 2005, The Echo Label recorded a ...

(a division of the

Chrysalis Group Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in '' Sunday Times Rich List 2009'' of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books an ...

), and the first "proper" single, a full-band recording of "Goodnight", which had appeared in demo form on ''Fatherhood'', was eventually released in the summer of 1996.

"You're Gorgeous"

The second single, "You're Gorgeous", reached number 3 in the UK singles chart in October 1996, and was also one of the biggest selling singles of the year, going on to chart around the world. Jones has declared it's a feminist song.

After "You're Gorgeous"

The album ''Ugly Beautiful'' produced two more hit singles, "Candy Girl" and "Cornershop". Shortly after ''Ugly Beautiful'', a fifth album of demos was released – '' Dying Happy''. Babybird returned in 1998 with ''There's Something Going On'', preceded by a single, "Bad Old Man". The album was a modest success and was followed by further minor hits, "If You'll Be Mine" and "Back Together". The 2000 album ''Bugged'' was well-received critically. However, sales were poor and the two singles from it, "The F-Word" (later the theme tune to a UK TV cookery show of the same name) and "Out of Sight" barely dented the charts. Babybird were dropped by their record label soon after. A third single from the album "Fireflies/Getaway" was released on Animal Noise records, but sold few copies. The band subsequently split.

After Babybird

In the following years, Jones returned to where he had started – releasing albums of demos under his own name. This time round, he produced two albums of instrumental music designed to help him develop a career in film music. ''Stephen Jones 1985–2001'' was released in 2001, and ''Plastic Tablets'' came out in 2003. Jones created the soundtrack for the film ''Blessed'' in 2004. Between the two instrumental albums, Jones collaborated with the

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

-based dance artist

Aim AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...

on a single, "Good Disease", and worked on an album of demo songs. This became the

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

influenced '' Almost Cured of Sadness'', on

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is, as of 2013, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest ...

. Again, Jones was to score a critical success, but legal problems over samples delayed its release. It and the single "Friend" received little promotion and sold few copies. In October 2005, a posting on the official Babybird website announced that the band had reformed. The subsequent album was called '' Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music''. Subsequently, the band were dropped by the Echo label. Two more albums followed on Unison records: 2010's "Ex-Maniac", and 2011's "The Pleasures of Self Destruction".

Death of the Neighbourhood

In 2008, Jones worked on a solo project entitled 'Death of the Neighbourhood'. The eponymous debut album, a 32 track 2-disc CD set was released on 10 November 2008 on

ATIC Records ''ATIC Records'' is an independent record label formed by British musician, DJ and producer, Aim (Andy Turner) and Niko (Nicole Vergel de Dios). They left Grand Central Records in early 2005 and started ATIC Records in June 2006. As there h ...

. The album features "Cokeholes", which was released as a three track single on 27 October 2008.

Black Reindeer

In 2012, Jones announced the beginning of a new musical identity, Black Reindeer. The first Black Reindeer album, "Music for the Film That Never Got Made", was released on Bandcamp. Seven more albums of instrumental music followed through 2013.

The Great Sadness

In 2013, Jones released a new song with vocals entitled "The Great Sadness".

Fiction

Jones has produced two works of fiction, ''The Bad Book'' in 2000 and ''Harry and Ida Swop Teeth'' (also the title of a Babybird

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

) in 2003. He also collaborated with DED Associates, who have designed many of his CD covers, on a 2000 art book ''Travel Sickness''.

Discography

Babybird

Studio albums

*''Ugly Beautiful'' (

, October 1996) No. 9 *''There's Something Going On'' (Echo Records, August 1998) No. 28 *''Bugged'' (Echo Records, June 2000) No. 104 *''Best of Babybird'' (Echo Records, February 2004) *''Between My Ears There's Nothing But Music'' (Echo Records, September 2006 and popup records Hamburg, February 2008) *''Ex-Maniac'' 2010 *''The Pleasures of Self Destruction'' (31 October 2011) *''Happy Stupid Nothing'' (7 March 2019)

Solo discography

Singles

*''Good Disease'' (with Aim,

Grand Central Records Grand Central Records was an independent record label based in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, England. It was started in 1995 by DJ Mark Rae (who, along with Steve Christian makes up the duo Rae & Christian). Rae started out working as ...

, June 2002) *''Friend'' (

, June 2003)

Compilation tracks

*''We Make All the Flowers Grow'' (with Luke Scott on ''Total Lee, a Tribute to

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

'', City Slang Records, June 2002)

Film score

*''Blessed'' (Warner Bros, 2004)

Albums

*''Stephen Jones 1985–2001'' (Easy! Tiger Records, October 2001) *'' Almost Cured of Sadness'' (

, March 2003) *''Plastic Tablets'' (Delf Music, September 2003)

=Albums as Black Reindeer

= *''Music For the Film That Never Got Made'' (October 2012) *''Real Life is Overrated'' (December 2012) *''A Difficult Third Album'' (February 2013) *''Due to a Lack of Excitement'' (March 2013) *''All Is Good'' (April 2013) *''The Ten Stages of Alcohol'' (June 2013) *''The End of Youth'' (July 2013) *''Death Is Stupid'' (September 2013) *''Death Is Stupid 2'' (October 2013)

Bibliography

*''The Bad Book'' (IMP Fiction, London, March 2000) *''Travel Sickness'' (Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, September 2000) *''Harry and Ida Swop Teeth'' (IMP Fiction, London, April 2003)

References

External links

September 2006 interview of "Babybird" (Stephen Jones)
by

Jane Gazzo Jane Gazzo is an Australian radio and television presenter, performance and club DJ, television personality, voice artist, author, and music journalist. Early life and education Gazzo was born and raised in Melbourne and is the daughter of a ...

Stephen Jones on TwitterBlack Reindeer Twitter feedStephen Jones' official Bandcamp page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Stephen 21st-century English novelists English male singers English pop musicians Britpop musicians Alumni of Nottingham Trent University 1962 births Living people People from Telford Writers from Shropshire English male novelists Countertenors 21st-century English male writers Musicians from Shropshire