Two BBC radio DJs are helping Surbiton singer/ songwriter Jono McCleery's bid for stardom.

Fed up with waiting around for a record deal for his first album, Jono asked his fans if they would offer to pay for it instead.

The money came in a matter of days and among his sponsors were two BBC radio DJs, Tom Robinson and Fiona Talkington.

Another sponsor was folk star Vashti Bunyan, whose song Diamond Day was featured on a TV advert for T-Mobile last year.

Jono said: "A fan in the US said he wanted to sponsor me so I could remain independent and not tied to a record label. I decided to open it up to my other fans on Wednesday of last week, and I had reached my target by the end of the week."

Jono, who has a weekly residence at Rubicon in Surbiton and describes his music as "folk to soul with elements of jazz", said: "I was expecting it to take a few weeks to raise the money, at best. I was really pleased it happened so quickly, and especially pleased to get the support of the BBC DJs and Vashti Bunyan."

He is now heading to the studio with bassist Richard Sadler to record the album which he hopes will be available to download from his website in a couple of months.

To find out more go to jonomccleery.com