Jimmy Young

Jimmy Young, whose real name is Leslie Ronald Young was born in Cinderford, near Gloucester and is one of Britain's best loved radio broadcasters, hosting his own morning show on BBC's Radio 2 between 1973 until his retirement in 2002. Before that however, he had enjoyed a successful singing career, even achieving two number one singles. There is confusion surrounding his birth date, even his autobiography stating that it was the 21st of September 1921, but those extra couple of years were probably added in order to allow him to serve in the Air Force during the war. After the war, he was signed to the Polygon label and released his cover of the Nat King Cole song Too Young which was a massive seller in the UK, the year before the pop charts began. He moved to the Decca label and had a couple of minor hits with Faith Can Move Mountains and Eternally before his easy, relaxed style really took off and he enjoyed two number one singles in 1955, Unchained Melody (despite massive competition from no fewer than four versions of this same song in the top 10 simultaneously) and The Man From Laramie, from the film of the same name. He never recaptured the form of 1955, and the following year produced only two top 10 hits, Chain Gangand More, his final appearance in the upper regions of the charts. Moving to the medium of radio, he became the host of the show Housewife's Choice on the BBC's Light Program, a station devoted to easy listening and safe MOR sounds among the beat generation of the mid 1960s. When the BBC launched their own pop music station, Radio 1, in 1967, he was one of their first disc jockeys, taking on the mid morning show and when Radio 1 appeared to want to appeal to an even younger audience, he transferred his show, the JY show to Radio 2, a more sedate...