Antony Jones

Antony Jones
Background information
Origin	London, England, UK
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	2002-2005

Antony Jones is a rock singer from London, England. His first single "The Man In The Mirror" went to #1, and since then he has continued to release big-selling hit singles. His greatest success came in 2004 with the single "Pull Me Down" which sold over 450,000 copies, and in 2005 with the album Kinesis, which featured four platinum-selling #1 singles including "Second Best".

Music

Early career and Naked

Before he was famous Antony used to work as a producer, producing hits for small acts and gaining experience, which he would later use to perfect his first two albums Naked and Antidote. Not only is he a skilled producer, Antony has had a strong musical upbringing and learnt to play the guitar and piano at an early age. These skills have helped him develop his sound and have given him his trademark image of having a guitar over his shoulder.

Antony exploded onto the Urapopstar scene in 2002 with his debut, self-written single "The Man In The Mirror" which debuted at #1 and shot the star to fame. It was taken from the #1 album Naked which also featured the hits "Rollercoaster Ride" [#6] "Under The Bridge" [#2] and "Whenever You Call/Right Here Waiting" (with Easther Bennett) [#1].

"Naked was a very personal album to me. It's me naked to the world, all of my thoughts and feelings that have made me who I am today. It can be quite depressing as it reflects my early life where I battled with depression and attempted suicide. But thankfully I pulled through. It was an album I needed to make and was very therapeutic."

Topping both the album and single charts within a year, Antony seemed to be on top of the world, leaving his depressing days that he sung about on "Naked" behind, but Antony's biggest heartbreak was yet to come.

During the promotional campaign for "Whenever You Call/Right Here Waiting" Antony proposed to girlfriend Easther Bennett live on stage at a Valentine's concert they were headlining. She accepted and the pair appeared like they would become Urapopstar's golden couple, but this wasn't the case. Just before their single hit #1 Easther disappeared. Antony woke up one day and she was gone, leaving no hint of where she had gone or why.

"It was a very difficult time for me. Just before that I was on a real high - and then I came crashing down when that happened. What?s worse is I had to continue to promote OUR single, singing on shows with her vocals in the background just continued to remind me she was gone, there was no escaping it."

But as soon as promotion for that single finished Antony moved on to his next project. "I didn't want to sit around and think about what had happened. I just wanted to keep working to take my mind off it." It was at this time that multi-platinum selling pop group Ace*Teens were on the lookout for someone to duet with. "This was just what I needed. I could continue working and be around other people as well. Those guys helped me a lot." The Ace*Teens hooked up with Antony and co-wrote "Change With The Light" with him. The unlikely collaboration produced a unique fusion of pop/rock, which proved popular with the public, giving Antony his third #1 single.

Antidote

After that it really was time for Antony to take a break, and he removed himself from the public eye to get over Easther. He did this by channeling his energy into making a brand new album. The first single from this new album was "Christmas Without You" which unlike other Christmas singles was a sad song about the loss of someone and spending your first Christmas without them. The single was thought to have been inspired by Easther's disappearance but Antony has stated it can be about any loss. The single gave him another top 5 hit.

After the success of that song Antony launched his second album, Antidote, another #1 album for Antony. "Antidote is a progression from Naked. This time the songs are more positive and have good messages behind them. At this point in my life I was getting myself back on track and I wanted to make something that people could listen to and help them through whatever they?re going through."

The next single from Antidote gave Antony the biggest hit of his career so far. "Pull Me Down" also gave him his first two week #1 single and was the second biggest selling single of 2004. "Pull Me Down is about someone who gets you down, whether they're a bully or something else. It says 'I may have let you get to me in the past, but I'm not going to let you pull me down anymore.'" The song gave Antony a greater status in the public's perception and within the industry. Parents were pleased that there was someone to be a good role model to their kids and someone who sang from their heart rather than being false. The positive messages behind Antony's songs gave the album a boost in sales after "Pull Me Down" was associated with an anti-bullying campaign.

Antony's next single was his second double A-side. "Boy On TV" was re-recorded with the added vocals of Antony's friend Ben Parker who turned the song into another song to make you think - from two different perspectives. Although the lyrics were sung in a child-like fashion the song still had a lot of meaning to it. "It's about wanting to be someone else, it tells the story of a boy watching another boy on TV and thinking 'I bet his life is so great - he must have everything, I bet he's never sad or lonely or ever has a bad day.' But the song says, you know, EVERYONE has a bad day, everyone wishes they could be someone else at one point - even the boy on TV who looks like he has the perfect life. It says no one is perfect, but we can all be happy."

"Forbidden Love" was a track with a brave video that challenged aspects of prejudice and discrimination from inter-racial to homosexual relationships. "The song itself is a great upbeat song that you can sing along to. And on the surface that's fine. However, with the video we went a bit further and show different types of love that may be forbidden to some people for a certain reason. The song is about craving someone so much you just have to be with them, so you secretly meet up with them, you watch your tracks, you do whatever it takes to see that person because you love them, and love is all that counts." Forbidden Love/Boy On TV ft. Ben Parker became Antony's fifth number one single and cemented his place in Urapopstar history.

Kinesis

After a long break, Antony finally returned in June 2005 with the album Kinesis, with the first single being "Second Best". "2nd Best is about someone in your life who seems to have everything, and anything you do is done better by them. It can be anyone, a sibling, friend, lover etc. The song however, takes a positive approach and takes a stand. I'm saying I'm not going to settle for second best anymore, i'm going to try my hardest. I think it's a song a lot of people can relate to."

Unsurprisingly, the single and album were both massively successful, each debuting at #1 upon their respective releases. Kinesis would eventually become Antony's best-selling album to date, thanks to the overwhelming success of its four singles.

The next single was a collaboration with Ivy, Antony's third double A-side and fourth collaboration. "Stuck With You" was written and recorded for Ivy's movie The Entertainer, which was later included on her album Visiting Hours; "Life Begins Today" was lifted straight from the Kinesis LP. "Stuck With You/Life Begins Today" became Antony's seventh #1, and after over a year and a half of releasing, finally gave Ivy a #1.

Still keeping busy, Antony left it up to his fans to pick the next single, which would be released in October, with "The Thrill Of Speed" receiving the most votes. "The Thrill Of Speed is the story of a girl who turned to drugs to get the attention of a guy she fancied. But instead of getting the guy all she got was addicted to the drugs." Following in the footsteps of his 2004 single "Pull Me Down", Antony used the single as an opportunity to become the face of an anti-drug campaign. The formula worked once again as "The Thrill Of Speed" hit #1.

During this time Antony was the center of Russ Hooch's reality show There's Something About... in which a group of URAPS females were given the chance to compete to win a date with him. The competition, in which Chayne Moore became the eventual winner, was notable for that Antony's ex Easther Bennett was one of the contestants, before she dropped out after the first show aired. This move was not met with disappointment. "I was dreading having to go on a date alone with Easther. The show was meant to be fun but that would have been too much for me and would have been very awkward. I have no problem with being friends with Easther, but I can't see anything else developing after what she did."

2005 was a huge year for Antony, as well as Claire Kitten, and both decided to end the year with a bang by releasing their duet "Poisoned Paradise" as the closing single from Antony's Kinesis and Claire's album of the same title. The single's promotional campaign was backed by an exhibit in London called Paradise: "Paradise offers a range of different environments and activities that will keep any person entertained for weeks on end. Some of these features include a theme park, arcades, music lounge, cinema, theatre, games area, a beautiful garden section with a range of exotic flowers, mazes, restaurants, children’s area, learning zone with different exhibits in various fields such as science and history, plus many more. There will also be a main stage in the centre of the Paradise where different events will be staged." The exhibit was a major success; the single was too, becoming the ninth #1 for Antony and the fifth for Claire.

The present

The last we've heard of Antony is that he is in the process of recording his fourth album. However, that update was back in February 2006. Will Antony finally make his return soon?

Discography

Albums

2002: Naked
2003: Antidote
2005: Kinesis

Singles

2002: The Man In The Mirror
2002: Rollercoaster Ride
2002: Under The Bridge
2003: Whenever You Call/Right Here Waiting (with Easther Bennett)
2003: Change With The Light (with Ace*Teens)
2003: Christmas Without You
2004: Pull Me Down
2004: Forbidden Love/Boy On TV (featuring Ben Parker)
2005: Second Best
2005: Stuck With You/Life Begins Today (with Ivy)
2005: The Thrill Of Speed
2005: Poisoned Paradise (with Claire Kitten)