Quotes from Jonny that tell his story so far...
I have put together quotes from throughout Jonnys career. It should be like Jonny telling his own story...
Football
"I remember leaving school on one day - I’d done dismally in my exams - and the following day I got a letter from Everton saying that I wasn’t being taken on at YTS level. I thought: Oh s**t! What do I do with my life now?"
"Football was my life. It was all I knew because I didn't study very hard in school. I was with Everton from 13 to nearly my 16th birthday. I came through Everton with players like Michael Branch, Danny Cadamarteri and Francis Jeffers. I used to play against Michael Owen and I can remember marking him once. We lost 4-0 and he scored all four. He hammered me."
"When it came to the crunch time when I left school, some guy came up to me from Everton and went, "you're not going to be good enough for Everton, you're actually too small". Ironically I'm 6" 2'. They said I wasn't going to be physically strong enough and straight after I got offered professional forms at Chester, Wrexham and Crewe. But I just didn't want to know - I lost my heart and my confidence in football."
" I met Beckham the once and I thought he was a great bloke. I've never been star struck in my life but when I looked at him I thought 'Oh God I adore you'."
Discovering his voice...
"It was never something that I thought about pursuing because, until I had my tonsils out at 15, I couldn’t sing a note. When they were gone, I suddenly found I could impersonate people like Tom Jones and Elvis . . . so that’s what I did."
"All I knew was that I could sing and make people laugh. So my Dad went to Blackpool and said, "you've got to see my son sing" as every Dad would. So I went up and sang a couple of songs and they said, "you're great, but there's nothing we can do for you. We haven't got any shows". Two weeks later I got a phone call saying that one of the singers had dropped out and they needed someone who could do the show for the rest of the season. I'm 17 and I'm now getting £250 a week. I've got my own digs for free and I'm living with 40 girl dancers. I'm in heaven; my hormones are flying. That same year I won the Cameron Mackintosh Young Entertainer of the Year competition. And the season after when I got back to Blackpool they told me they wanted to make me the youngest person in Blackpool history to have his own show."
'Just Another Day'
"When I released 'Just Another Day' I was being a person that I wasn't. I wouldn't use the word fake, but the music I released just wasn't me. It's tough when you are signed to a record label and at the time you have not gone out and proved yourself; you have not got a leg to stand on. If you are someone like Mariah Carey or Michael Jackson you can tell the record company what the hell you want to do. That song was a bit too poppy. If I could do it again, I would do it a different way but that's life."
"They said: 'You've got to mime'. There's something wrong there. I'm a singer; I love to perform."
The Royal Albert Hall
"Singing Me And My Shadow with Rob was the best thing I could have done. In a way, it was a p*** take, but everyone who saw it said ‘You got up on stage and you matched Robbie Williams, you were as good as him.’ That was the big turning point. People said ‘Oh, he can actually sing!’ The stage was so skiddy that I kept expecting to flip over at any minute."
Godspell - The Musical
"It was too good an opportunity to turn down. I am excited, it is a big challenge. The production team has taken a show that was contemporary in 1972 and have made it contemporary for 2002."
"One night Jesus is from Stoke, the next night he's from Sydney"
"One of the reasons I'm doing Godspell is to try to get a name for myself. I hope people will come and watch me and see what I can do. Since doing theatre, I'm loving this business again. I got so disillusioned with the pop business. I've been a live performer all my life."
"I can't talk openly about it at the moment but hopefully I'll be able to soon. A lot of musicals have also been offered, it's encouraging - I love it."
The Rocky Horror Show
"I got told off the other day for being too naughty. I was running around and grabbing Janets boobs, but she's a great girl - she didn't mind!"
"I'm 6'2" tall but 6'6" in my heels - so I'm a big lad. My managers were very scared of me!"
"I've got really big football thighs which's funny, and I'm wearing fishnets and suspenders. When I get it all on I look daunting and indestructable. A couple of girls in the cast said they found it really sexy."
"People have called and written to me while I've been doing theatre and said they've had their eyes opened."
You've Been Framed
"My next job's going to be great (YBF), I'm really pleased about it. I'm excited too, because people will have the chance to see what I can do. I'm going to be taking over from Lisa Riley as the host of You've Been Framed on ITV, for the new series, starting in September."
"Entertainment's what I really wanted to get into. I've built a fanclub on the Rocky Horror tour and I'm grateful for that, but I've got to think about what else Jonathan Wilkes can do. I've been an entertainer from when I was small."
"No offence to Lisa, she's done a really good job but I think they felt it was time for a refresher, to have a new approach.
"It's a really high profile for me, but I have signed a three-year deal with ITV so I think I'll have to get used to it."
"When they asked me I thought, lets do it my way and use my singing talents. The clips are still the main thing but it's turned into a mini variety show."
"When I was approached to do it the producers said that what they loved about me doing it was that I should be myself.
"When I was doing my pop career I was never Jonathan Wilkes, I was a record company robot," he says. "This is me now. And it's great."
Grease
"I really enjoyed it!!"
More will be added to this page...
