Ipswich singer Ashton Jones on his journey to playing the hits of his idols

"It's strange to think that, six years ago, I was performing in the Spread Eagle in Ipswich to 15 people, and now I play festivals to over 20,000."

In his own words, Ashton Jones didn't start taking the idea of singing for a living serious until his late 20s.

Inspired by his trombonist father and a childhood spent singing away, he started a band in 2018, and in the 'exciting and varied' past few years has played gigs to tens of thousands, performed in prestigious venues and even made appearances on TV.

Ashton, who grew up in Ipswich, said the first spark of his music career came when listening to James Brown's Live in Chastain Park CD shortly after passing his driving test at 17.

Now, at the age of 35, he has listened to it 'thousands of times' and he will be doing a tour across England to honour his two musical heroes, James Brown and Prince, enamoured by the former's command of the stage.

Dates have yet to be announced, but the tour will take place at the end of this year and the start of the next.

While Ashton started performing professionally in 2019, he had been playing shows for longer.

He revealed his early gigging years were 'unglamorous', as he was playing to a few people in pubs.

"You'd be setting up before people got there and taking everything down at 1am when people left for at least an hour, then lugging it back to the car. And you'd get paid maybe £80 to £100," he said.

"Eventually I started working out how to hustle bigger shows. Eventually I settled on sending boxes of doughnuts or flowers to big soul and funk promoters, which worked and I was getting bigger gigs.

"Getting into these circles was vital, as this led to bigger and bigger things. Once, after a gig near Bildeston, I met someone who worked for a production company and the next thing I know I was in an advert for Amazon.

"It's very important in this business to keep your fingers in many pies as there are many ways to make a living outside of shows – which, in turn, help get your voice out there – a helpful thing when you next put out a record."

Ashton said trying to sell an eight-piece band to promoters was tough as the costs were high and described the ordeal as a 'real hustle'.

After a while, he bagged a support role for US R&B group Shalamar, and things kept building from there, he added.

Since then, he has played the London Palladium and sold out gigs at Ronnie James's legendary soul club, and the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in Mexico to crowds of over 20,000 – and even performed on Dancing with the Stars.

Lockdown saw a slump, Ashton revealed, and he and his friend wanted to do a big tour to 'launch themselves' out of the pandemic.

The James Brown vs Prince shows will see them play with a live orchestra.

The two singers were chosen due to their legendary status and how they broke new ground, Ashton noted.

"It was hard to distil these two legends down to an hour, we could put an a four-hour show and not even scratch the surface. Every song will be a hit and would get the audience standing up and dancing," he noted.

"Having a full-blown orchestra is more interesting than just a normal soul variety show and I hope to bring my own energy to it – although you won't catch me doing the splits."

Reflecting on his career so far, he added: "Looking back, it's been hard. And early on, I was scrambling to get one rung up the ladder. And to anyone who is thinking of getting into music, when the opportunity arises, you should grab it with both hands.

"It's strange to think that, six years ago, I was performing in the Spread Eagle in Ipswich to 15 people, and now I play festivals to over 20,000."