As a teenager who couldn't really play the guitar, Jont rode a Greyhound bus across America, interviewing 20 of America's most famous poets - finishing the trip having dinner with Allen Ginsberg in his Lower East Side apartment. After his return to the UK, his interests in poetry quickly switched to music, and he started hosting his own monthly event called "UNLIT" at the 12 Bar Club in London. Jont moved to LA to complete his musical and songwriting education working with manager Tony Dimitriades (Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac) and a variety of legendary producers - Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliot Smith), Mushroom (Massive Attack), and Bill Laswell among them.
Returning to London his 2005 mini album One Long Song (****Q "so gorgeous it makes you want to hug strangers in the street") and 2008's full-length album "Supernatural" (****Uncut "wonderfully understated") put out on his own Unlit Records saw him find new fans in DJs Dermot O'Leary, Johnnie Walker and Jonathan Ross at BBC Radio Two not to mention getting 2 songs synch'd on international hit tv show Grey's Anatomy, and one a piece in Without A Trace and Hollywood blockbuster Wedding Crashers. Meanwhile, Jont's event "UNLIT", now a travelling house-party gig became a "global internet phenomenon" (The Guardian) as he took it and toured through people's houses across America and the UK, posting films of the gigs on Youtube and building a cult following, eventually being sponsored by mobile phone giant Orange to take it on the road with a full production team across the UK the resulting films of which were seen by 100's of thousands on Youtube.
2010 proved to be his most productive year so far, as he released the first record with his band, The Infinite Possibility - "Set It Free" - in April and then followed it up with releasing another album in the same year "Whole Again" in November. Also in November 2010, inspired by some Italian fans who had flown him out to sing at their wedding, Jont realised it was time to leave London and take his music to the world like a true troubadour. When he woke up one morning and wrote a song called "Australia" he knew what it meant and what he had to do. A few hours later he had bought his ticket and begun the open-ended adventure he now finds himself on Down Under. Since arriving in the Southern Hemisphere Jont has been writing songs and playing gigs everywhere - in the tantric turtle cafe at Pete's Ridge Festival, on the street in Byron Bay (where he did a live session for Byron FM), at a cultural centre on Thursday Island or if not regular venues then in kitchens and on balconies and on sunny street corners. By jumping in to the unknown and seeing what happens, Jont is finally getting the full force of his music out there - and has already written a bunch of new tunes inspired by his Australian adventure.
For more info on where Jont will be playing and how to hear his new album "Whole Again" contact him at jont@jontnet.com.
www.jontnet.com
www.myspace.com/jontmusic
www.i-am-everyone.co.uk/orangeunlit/
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