Jimmy Young
b. Leslie Ronald Young, 21 September 1923, Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England. A popular ballad singer in the UK during the '50s, Young carved out a new career for himself in broadcasting when rock ‘n’ roll took over in the latter part of the decade. The son of a miner, he was an excellent boxer and rugby player, but turned down an offer of a professional career with top rugby league club, Wigan. Always keen on music, he was taught to play the piano by his mother, and received professional voice training. He worked as a baker and an electrician before joining the Royal Air Force in 1939. After demobilization he intended training as a teacher, but was spotted, singing at a sports club, by BBC producer George Innes, and made his first broadcast two weeks later, subsequently touring the UK variety circuit. From 1951 he had several successful records on the small Polygon label including My Love And Devotion, Because Of You and Too Young. In January 1953, two months after the first UK singles chart appeared in the music newspaper, the New Musical Express, Young had a hit with Faith Can Move Mountains for his new label, Decca, and followed that with Eternally (Terry's Theme), from the Charles Chaplin film, LIMELIGHT. 
In 1955 Young became the first UK artist to top the NME chart with successive releases. The first, Unchained Melody, made the top spot in spite of intense competition from Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, and Liberace. The second, the title song from the movie, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, and another 1955 hit, Someone On My Mind, clinched Young's position as the UK's second biggest selling artist of the year—after Ruby Murray. Following further '50s hits, including Chain Gang, The Wayward Wind, Rich Man Poor Man, More and Round And Round, Young switched to EMI's Columbia label in the early '60s, and had some success with a recording of Charles and Henry Tobias's 1929 song, Miss You, and a re-recording of his 1955 hit, Unchained Melody. In 1960 he introduced BBC radio's popular record request programme, HOUSEWIVES’ CHOICE, for two weeks. It was the start of a new career which has lasted more than 30 years, initially as a conventional disc jockey and compere, and then, from 1967, as host of his own daily BBC morning radio show, mixing records with consumer information, discussions on current affairs, and interviews with figures in the public eye, including Prime Ministers. For his work on that programme, he was awarded the OBE, and later, the CBE. In 1992, for THE JIMMY YOUNG STORY, a radio celebration of the silver anniversary of his talk show, Young was interviewed by another distinguished broadcaster, David Frost.