RECOVERED from his "stupid irritating heart attack", Babybird's Stephen Jones will play a trio of late-autumn concerts, kicking off at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on November 30.

The gig announcement was accompanied by a health update from Jones's publicists that said: "It’s over a year since Stephen Jones had that stupid irritating heart attack. He’s been to the gym for the first time. Lost a stone and a half. And is now fully hiked up on blood thinners and other drugs.

"He and the band gave birth to new gigs last December and made it safely through, at a very lovely old church in St Pancras, London". The experience had been fun indeed, the Friday night gig in particular being "absolutely astonishing".

"So it was a simple decision to do it again and add more, spread out across the country, have a road trip, and play some new songs. Even have the odd shandy," the statement continued.

Babybird's musical life started with his lo-fi years in a Sheffield flat, consisting of five Stephen Jones solo albums released in a nine-month period. You're Gorgeous changed everything, as the single and accompanying album, Ugly Beautiful, went gold in 1996, but Jones was hounded and heckled out of Manchester for being that "bleeding gorgeous bloke", settling in London instead.

Then, with the help of Johnny Depp, he recorded two albums in Los Angeles, Depp even directing the video for Unloveable. In the past five years, Jones has released more than 100 albums through Bandcamp, giving him complete freedom outside of the music business, to persist and meddle.

Tickets for November 30 are on sale via Eventbrite at bit.ly/Babybird2018.