[2] After growing up in Somerset, East Sussex and London, he took an art foundation course and moved to the south of France for six months to paint.
[2][3][4] Back in England, he was taught to sing by his mother, who had trained as an opera singer at the Royal Academy of Music,[2] started playing a guitar and then changed his name to Philip Jeays, after his maternal great-great-grandfather.
He continued to record and release albums; Cupid Is A Drunkard (2000),[12] The Ballad Of Ruben Garcia (2002),[13] Fame (2003),[14] and Mr Jeays (2005);[15] while performing at various venues around London, Sussex and occasional trips up to Leeds, Hull and Manchester.
This has continued to be a popular annual event among Jeays fans and features him performing with David Harrod, Jezza Campbell, John Peacock, William George Q and, more recently, Kerry Stapleton on double bass.
The show is usually hosted by poet Geoff The Speech Painter, who performs a support slot at the start of the evening.
In 2006, Jeays was invited to perform as part of 'Robin Ince Loves Books' shows at the Bloomsbury Theatre and The Albany in London.