Having spent most of her career on the West End Stage and in Concert Halls Worldwide, Ria not only returns to Wales, but to her first love....singing. With her three piece live band she creates an intimate evening, from Jazz to Blues interwoven with a few Musical Theatre songs. Incorporating her musical memoirs and many songs from her soon to be released solo album 'Have You Met Miss Jones' Her beautiful, alluring and distinctively powerful voice fused with an elegant and inimitable stage presence will bewitch and beguile you, and you will undoubtedly leave with the unmistakable feeling of having 'Now Met Miss Jones'. Ria Jones is an internationally renowned West End star of the highest calibre. She has performed in leading roles in numerous West End musicals, sung in Theatres and Concert halls worldwide. As well as performing as a soloist on three Royal Variety Shows she has also sung by royal request at Buckingham Palace. Ria has performed as a soloist to audiences in many of the worlds' finest venues, including innumerous West End Theatres, The Millennium Centre, The Palladium, The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Jubilee Theatre at Raffles Hotel Singapore and regularly at The Royal Albert Hall. Ria was also honoured to be picked to perform alongside Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey for the opening of the Welsh Assembly at Cardiff Bay. Born and raised in Swansea, Ria was brought up surrounded by the rich heritage of Welsh music. Her mother was an Opera Singer and her father a successful cabaret entertainer, so it was inevitable at an early age that Ria Jones was destined for stardom. At 19 she became the youngest actress ever to play the role of Eva Peron in 'Evita', followed shortly by her West End debut in the musical 'Chess' in which she played both Svetlana and Florence. She went on to perform famed roles such as Grizabella in 'CATS', Fantine in 'Les Miserables, The Narrator in 'Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' Liz Imbrie in 'High Society' Reno Sweeney in 'Anything Goes', alongside Marti Pellow in 'The Witches of Eastwick' among many other notable roles and more recently in Victoria Wood's most iconic role as Mrs Overall in 'Acorn Antiques' which she recently reprised when requested by Victoria Wood to appear in the 'Angina Monologues' at The Haymarket Theatre, London. Ria's TV appearances include her own one-off special for BBC Wales entitled 'One Night Only with Ria Jones', Three televised Royal Variety Performances for the BBC, 'Wales in the West End' for HTV, a recently televised drama written by Victoria Wood, 'When Eric Met Ernie' and most recently an episode for the new series of Torchwood. She has performed frequently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall, and has personal accolades from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. She has shared the stage with Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Montserrat Caballe, Philip Schofield, Catherine Zeta-Jones Take That, Lulu, Ronnie Corbett, Angela Rippon, Aled Jones, Brian Adams, Jason Donovan, Elaine Paige, Joe Pasquale, Marti Pellow, Michael Ball....to name but a few. Ria has recently released an album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 'Abbaphonic' and is about to release her first solo album 'Have You Met Miss Jones?' Ria Jones attracts attention and a following wherever she performs, due to her superb talent but also due to the charisma and warmth she exudes to those whom she performs to and comes in contact with. A pure class act!
Has a brother named Ceri Dupree.Mother studied at The Royal College of Music in London.Father was an entertainer.Starred as Mrs Overall in the tour of Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques - the Musical!, the role made famous by Julie Walters in the 1980s television sketch.Favourite productions include: Joseph, with Philip Schofield, and High Society.Favourite holiday destination is Asia and Thailand.Loves reading autobiographies.At one point wanted to be a Welsh teacher, and then suddenly got paid for something she liked to do, which was singing. But is also very interested in property.Favourite co-stars are Philip Schofield, Michael Starke, Angela Rippon and Sara Crowe.At the age of 19 became the youngest actress ever to play the role of Eva Peron in the musical "Evita".
In the run-up to World War Two, Ernie Wiseman, a precocious and confident child performer, is signed up by influential impresario Jack Hylton. In Morecambe, pushy stage mum Sadie Bartholomew drags her slightly reluctant son Eric, an eccentric dancer, from one audition to the next until he too becomes a client of Hylton. The boys do not get on at first but Sadie sees a way to exploit their cross-talk and they form a bantering double act as Morecambe and Wise. After war service they become successful on stage and on radio but their attempt to crack the new medium of television is a disaster because they have been forced to accept a script which will make their Northernness acceptable to Southern viewers. They split up. However Sadie knows the formula that once worked and pushes Eric, now married to dancer Joan, into contacting Ernie. They decide to reform, on their own terms, into the act that would become one of the most successful television pairings ever.