Artist Information
Biography
former choir-boy, former emo-pop-punk pioneer and self-confessed voyeur, crass humourist and
reading's foremost proponent of onanism, jonathan oakeley has been making music for years. from the humblest of beginnings in a quiet town in south oxfordshire to the heady heights of the royal albert hall in london, england, the rags-to-slightly-nicer rags tale of one man’s quest for acoustic pop perfection will both astonish and amaze.
“this man is arguably the best singer in Britain today” – George Russell, EOD, January 2009
with a youthful addiction to ‘top of the pops’ and the ‘now’ compilations, jonathan gained a hunger for well crafted pop from an early age, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that he was able to find the right tools to help him hone his craft. as the trials of adolescence pillaged their way through his body jonathan found solace in playing the piano and guitar, trying to make sense of life as a teenager by writing some absolutely awful songs. it was also around this time that jonathan formed his first band and joined a local youth choir. inspired by a variety of influences, mainly very early emo, 80s heavy metal and an awful lot of grunge, the band continued for five years, developing a unique brand of emo-pop-punk (think blink 182 crossed with funeral for a friend) and went on to have some minor success around the north essex area before disbanding to continue studying, but it was the local youth choir that was to have the greatest effect on the young troubadour...
between the years of 1997 and 2003 jonathan was privileged enough to record at the illustrious abbey road studios, appear in the BBC radio 4 christmas pantomime two years running (one year as tony robinson’s singing voice), complete choir tours of north italy and florida and perform in venues such as the royal festival hall, the barbican, st.pauls cathedral and the foreign office (london), the arts centre and twist (colchester) and st.mark’s cathedral (venice, italy). he was also fortunate enough to be the ‘musical theatre kid’ at school and sixth form, taking the lead in productions of ‘west side story’ and ‘jesus christ superstar’, much to his peer’s irritation.
“possibly one of the most irritatingly catchy songwriters out there – you’ll be humming these tunes for days” – Spark, Reading University Newspaper, July 2007
in 2002 jonathan left north essex to study at university in reading, berkshire, and it was here that our hero found his niche. swiftly involving himself in the drama society, jonathan went on to star in two of their musicals, musically direct two more of them, and compose, produce, arrange and perform the music for three contemporary productions of shakespeare’s plays. he also had the honour of singing and playing guitar and then bass for the five piece hardcore-metal band ‘nadir’ that gained some notoriety on the deliciously incestuous local music circuit in reading. nadir split up in 2006 after their career peak of playing the purple turtle in camden, london.
it wasn’t until 2007, when jonathan took a three month sabbatical to new zealand that his career as an acoustic singer/songwriter really took off. having written songs solidly for the past nine years it was time to set some of them in stone. armed with a laptop, a guitar, a microphone and a collection of flutes jonathan dug himself into an outhouse and emerged a month later with a collection of twelve recordings collectively known as ‘a change of sky’. upon returning to the uk it was only too soon that everyday life got in the way, and the recordings stayed buried for the rest of the year.
“a classically trained singer with a musical background in alternative/metal/pop, choirs and musical theatre? an aural disaster in the making surely? and yet for some strange reason it works. it works really really well” - Mark Pajovic – CFC, November 2008
2008 – jonathan decided to pull his finger out of the proverbial and embarked on getting his music heard. a series of gigs throughout the year, including headling the acoustic stage at the ‘under the oak’ festival in Oxfordshire soon developed jonathan’s reputation as an act to be seen and sharpened his performance skills, ensuring that the transition from band frontman to exposed balladeer was a smooth one. the release of the new zealand recordings through local label ‘fruit of the womb’ also proved relatively successful, with over a hundred and fifty units being shifted at gigs alone, and radio plays on BBC local stations.
the year is 2009. currently in the studio (his lounge) hard at work on album number two, jonathan has decided to do even more to push his music career towards the stratosphere, willing to perform anywhere, anytime and anyplace, and that, my friend, is where you come in...
Instrumentation
Jonathan Oakeley - Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Programming and Pipes
Discography
jonathan oakeley - "one inch forward" (LP currently recording) 2009 - everything
galaxy 3000 - "hyperway speedracer" (EP currently recording) 2009 - vocals/programming/keyboards
stuart brown - "the ambassador's plea" (LP) 2009 - piano/vocals
stuart brown - "meet me in moscow" (LP) 2007 - producer/recorder/mixer/piano/guitar/vocals
the kaiten project - "self/titled" (LP) 2007 - composer/producer/samplesmith
jonathan oakeley - "a change of sky" (LP) 2007 - everything
nadir - "it's easy to be straight edge when you're only fifteen" (EP) 2005 - guitar/vocals
nadir - "only the dead have seen the end of war" (mini-album) 2004 - guitar/vocals
undercurrent - "then came this" (EP) 2002 - bass/vocals
Video
Press
Setlist
jonathan oakeley will play for however long is required. he's played shows where there's been one song in a showcase, and also gigs where he's played for an hour and a half, all original material. whatever the requirement, be it length, depth, covers and/or originals, you can be sure that the set will be filled with the highs and lows of the emotional roller-coaster that is a jonathan oakeley gig.
typical covers include:
pearl jam - black
foo fighters - everlong
carly simon - nobody does it better
low - laser beam
jimmy eat world - hear you me / your house
funeral for a friend - history
karaoke favourites include:
elton john - goodbye yellow brick road
savage garden - affirmation
meatloaf - it's all coming back to me now
daniel bedingfield - if you're not the one
all for one - i swear
