Bev Jones boosted by invitation to sing for the Queen (From York Press)

Bev Jones boosted by invitation to sing for the Queen

11:04am Friday 3rd February 2012 in Music news and reviews By Charles Hutchinson

RECUPERATING York musical director and producer Bev Jones has received the perfect tonic.

Bev, who suffered a stroke in December, has been telephoned by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, to invite him to take part in The Queen’s 60th Anniversary Coronation celebrations next year at Westminster Abbey.

In 1953, Bev, then head boy at York Minster, was asked to sing at The Queen’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey, along with other selected choirboys. Now, all surviving choirboys from that ceremony have been contacted to once more join in the celebrations as a “thank you”.

This is all the more poignant for Bev, who underwent neck surgery in York Hospital following his stroke, three days after a fall in the city centre.

The six-inch incision for his carotid endarterectomy ran next to his voice box, so the surgeons had to take extra care as the operation can damage the voice – a vital tool for Bev as a singer and singing teacher.

“Anyway, all was good, and I can still sing,” says Bev, who had been due to stage his own 50th Anniversary Concert at York Barbican on April 1.

This event would have marked 50 years since he first took to the stage at York Theatre Royal to play the lead in The Vagabond King in January 1962. However, the concert has been postponed, on doctors’ advice, until Bev’s health improves.

“But I’m determined that a stroke will not stop me staging a concert or attending Westminster Abbey next year,” says Bev.

“I’m proud to have taken part in the Coronation 60 years ago; I still remember every word and note I sang on the day, and I’ve gone on to have 50 wonderful years in music.”

He has obtained a recording of himself singing, aged 14, in York Minster accompanied by Dr Francis Jackson at the organ, and he now intends to produce a CD featuring Bev Jones, “Boy To Man”.

“It will comprise me singing my favourite songs, plus my own favourite arrangements sung by the people of Yorkshire,” he says.