Janey Lee Grace (born 4 March 1960) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

(

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communic ...

and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

) presenter and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, first with

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

as a travel reporter and then graduating to her own late night show for the station.

Career

Grace was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. Her father was a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

. She began her career singing backing vocals for

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

Kim Wilde Kim Wilde (born Kim Smith, 18 November 1960) is an English pop singer, DJ and television presenter. She first saw success in 1981 with her debut single "Kids in America", which peaked at No. 2 in the UK. In 1983, she received the Brit Award f ...

and

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

, toured the world with

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

for three years, and released a solo single "Heartbeat Radio" in 1988. She also sang vocals on a cover of the

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

song, " Love To Love You Baby" by Euro House dance act Bali in February 1989. Her own

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

success came in the summer of 1991 when she teamed up with Saint Etienne and local

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

Andrew Midgley Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

to form the dance act Cola Boy, reaching No. 8 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

with "7 Ways to Love". It also reached No. 9 on the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

in 1991. She also appeared on the follow-up single "He is Cola", released in September of the same year, and recorded a cover version of the

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

song " Time After Time" with Hyperstate which was released on

M&G Records M&G Records was a record label founded by Michael Levy after he sold his previous label Magnet Records in 1988 to WEA for an estimated £10 million. History After Magnet was sold and was then merged into Eastwest Records in the UK, Levy set u ...

(MAGS 34) in January 1993 and reached No. 71 in the UK charts. In 1994 she co-wrote "Love Your Sexy...!!" for girl band Byker Grooove, a spin-off single from the BBC series ''

Byker Grove Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series ''Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is bord ...

'', which reached No. 48 in the UK charts. On 6 July 1999,

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

launched a rebooted

Steve Wright In The Afternoon ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' was the name given to English DJ Steve Wright's popular radio shows. Wright's afternoon show was known by that name from 1989. Wright presented the afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 from 30 March 1981 to 24 Decem ...

, and Grace was the female co-host alongside Steve Wright and Richard Easter - later

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians *T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and produ ...

and (until 2016) the 'Old Woman' Joyce Frost Janey had her own show from 4am-6am (later 3am-6am) on Saturday mornings, beginning on 11 February 2000 which lasted until late 2006, when she was replaced by her

co-host,

. Grace covered Wright's ''Sunday Love Songs'' on BBC Radio 2 in December 2007 and January 2008. She also filled in during April 2010, when Wright was on holiday in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and was then forced to remain there, due to the

volcanic eruptions in Iceland A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

. In July–August 2010 and January 2011, she also sat in for Wright on his Sunday show while he was on holiday. On 1 July 2022 Wright announced ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' will end in Autumn 2022 after 41 years presenting on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. It was also announced that Grace and

will also be leaving

. Janey Lee Grace ended her final programme on ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' on 30 September 2022, thus also leaving

after 23 years at the station.

Bibliography

Janey Lee Grace released four books as part of the ''Imperfectly Natural'' series. These include: * * * In 2009, she collaborated on three pregnancy audiobooks with hypnotherapist Glenn Harrold, entitled ''Preparing for Pregnancy'', ''Joyful Pregnancy'' and ''Blissful Birth''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Janey Lee English dance musicians English radio DJs English television presenters Virgin Radio (UK) 1960 births Living people People from Nottingham BBC Radio 2 presenters