BBC Radio 2 icon Jo Whiley's heartbreak over tragic loss amid life milestone

Daily Mirror

10 hours ago

Jo Whiley, who is narrating a new National Rail guide about Britain's biggest musical locations, talks rock and roll nights, her milestone 60th and swapping raves for wild swimming
Jo Whiley has been at the centre of popular music for 30 years, interviewing the biggest stars and discovering the hottest new talents. It's made the Radio 2 favourite an oracle on bands, beats and beyond. As she gets ready to celebrate her 60th birthday this summer, Jo looks back on her exciting career, from partying with U2 to turning to Coldplay's Chris Martin for advice – and speaking exclusively to OK!, shares what she really thinks about the big Oasis reunion.
'I don't feel very old at all,' beams a glowing Jo, fresh from a day in the garden and a restorative massage. I still feel like I'm 17 or 27. Sixty – it's a weird thing to get your head around. I'm alive and that's the greatest thing. I'm healthy and I'm lucky to be here, because lots of people we've grown up with aren't here any more.'
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Radiating energy and happiness, Jo speaks with as much passion about music now as she did at the start of her career. Rising up through the ranks of radio, she's become an influential voice in the industry while presenting one of the biggest shows in the country.
'I'm super happy to be still doing my job,' grins the mum-of-four. 'I never had a game plan, never had any wild ambition or intention. I've just been phenomenally lucky to still be here doing a radio show, doing these gigs and going to festivals. I'm just really grateful people still want me.'
A champion for new music and a celebrator of vintage tunes, Jo says she's delighted with the resurgence of 90s Britpop bands such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp, who were coming up in the industry at the time she was – and she's enjoying reuniting with them.
'All these bands I knew 30 years ago are still being phenomenally creative, and that's lovely,' she says. "But also, I'm enjoying talking to them as an adult. When we were young and I was doing interviews with them, we were all a bit awkward and kind of didn't know how to speak to people. But now we can have proper conversations. It's lovely. We're genuinely friends because we've known each other such a long time. We've grown up together.'
Jo and youngest daughter Coco are among the lucky ones who've managed to bag tickets to see Oasis live this year – something Jo never thought she'd see. 'I said Oasis would never get back together again, so I'm not going to predict anything!' she laughs.
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'Coco's so excited about seeing them, and it's kind of given me a renewed love of them too, so I'm really excited about going to see them. It'll be very emotional for everybody who goes, and it'll also be interesting to see how the boys are on stage these days.'
Over the decades, Jo has enjoyed incredible access to the world 's biggest music icons, from George Michael to David Bowie. Looking back at some of her favourite deep dives, she says chatting to the Queen of Pop is among her top experiences.
'Interviewing Madonna at any point is always really enjoyable,' says Jo. 'I really like her. She listens very carefully to what you ask her, and then she'll contemplate her answer. Also, Bono is one of the dream storytellers, so any question you ever ask him will have some amazing anecdotes and will make you laugh at the end of it.'
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Jo reveals some of her wildest nights out have come courtesy of Bono and his iconic band, U2. 'I've never been a massive socialiser, but U2 have been responsible for some of the best nights out I've ever had,' she reveals. 'They enjoyed showing us what Dublin is like, and they show great hospitality.'
Letting loose at festivals is what Jo enjoys most now, but not in the ways she once did. Night raves are out and lake swimming is in for fitness fanatic Jo. 'My idea of fun is getting up dead early and going swimming at Latitude,' she says. 'I see people coming in after a great night out, and I'm there in my swimming costume ready to get in the water. I always make my gang get up early and come dipping with me at 8am, which they hate me for but it's also very fun.'
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It's all part of Jo's fitness routine – something she's grown passionate about in recent years. She turned to the gym to 'save' herself from debilitating menopause symptoms – and earned some impressive abs in the process. 'I go to the gym and see a trainer maybe once a week,' she says. 'I've tried Reformer Pilates. I'm not a naturally stretchy person, but it's good. As I got older, I was like, 'I want to be strong and I want to be active.' Exercise is just a huge part of my life.'
Being in the DJ booth at her 90s anthems gigs across the UK also sounds like a pretty intense workout. 'It's physically gruelling,' she chuckles. 'It's like doing some kind of Jane Fonda workout for an hour and a half on stage, because I don't just stand there – I get really involved in the songs. You can't stand still when you're playing something like Fatboy Slim or Pulp or James. It's impossible.'
Inspired by lively legends such as Mick Jagger and Sting, Jo too wants to be able to rock out into her eighties. 'I saw Sting in concert last year and he was really good and amazingly fit,' she recalls. 'When you talk about fitness, being strong and owning your body, he looks just unbelievable.
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'How do they do it? Because honestly, an hour and a half on stage and I'm really hurting afterwards. So how someone like Mick Jagger does what he does… it's unreal! I guess you get to a point when you're like, OK, right, all this debauchery and all that stuff, it's got to stop because I'm not going to be here or in a fit state to enjoy the rest of my life.'
Surrounded by musical maestros full of words of wisdom, Jo is never short of valuable advice. She counts Coldplay frontman Chris Martin as one of her close friends, and says he's always on hand when she needs a pep talk. 'If ever I've had a tough time or something's going on, I've often turned to Chris, and he's really good at dispensing advice,' she shares. 'He tells me to just chill out. He's wise. I can't think of any particular piece of advice because they're often like long poems.
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'Bono said the best piece of advice he'd been given was by Chrissie Hynde. She told him the best way to live is to make sure you live a long life and don't die choking on your own vomit somewhere. So the smart thing to do is to get fit, look after yourself and enjoy a long life.'
That's certainly what Jo is doing. She's also enjoying a busy phase at work. Her latest project has involved travelling up and down the country by train with National Rail, narrating a new guide to locations that have inspired huge music acts.
'It's encouraging people to do pilgrimages to places where artists have been inspired to write songs, and that's a really lovely thing to do,' she explains. 'I can remember taking the train with my friends to the Haçienda in Manchester, going to see New Order or Happy Mondays – bands that were key to my career.
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'Antony Szmierek, a new up and coming artist I love, has a song called The Great Pyramid Of Stockport , so I went there. I went to Denmark Street, where Elton John wrote Your Song , and visited the pub in Taylor Swift 's song, The Black Dog. It's been a real musical education.'
Looking ahead to her 60th birthday in July, Jo shares her plans for a knees-up at her Northamptonshire home, surrounded by friends and family – including her husband, music executive Steve Morton, and their four children, India, 33, Jude, 26, Cassius, 24, and Coco, 16.
'I'm having a barn dance,' she reveals. 'I did it 10 years ago, so I thought I might as well do it again. We'll have a big old hoedown – cowboy boots, gingham, the lot. Or maybe I'll be Calamity Jane. I'm definitely dressing up. We have lots of parties and people always get dressed up. We've got the most insane fancy dress emporium above the garage, with many boxes of costumes we've worn over the years. I could open a fancy dress shop!'
As she enters her seventh decade, what's next for Jo? Dreaming of more distant shores, Jo says, 'More than anything, I want to do more travelling, because I never have time to go away. Whether it's climbing Mount Snowdon or going to Japan or Canada… my greatest fear is I won't get to see those places. I need to make it happen.'