Biography
Leona Graham has been working in the radio and voice over industry for many years presenting radio programmes, voicing station idents and using her voice talent on television and radio commercials.
Early Days
Leona’s radio career started at W963 – University Radio Warwick in 1989 where she presented the ‘Thursday Night Rock Show’ and a nightly news/magazine programme called ‘Weekday Warwick’. After Uni in 1993 she spent some time on pirate radio in Nottingham.
Her break came in 1995 when she helped write the winning application for Choice FM in Birmingham, where she became the overnight DJ. She made the move to London to become the DJ for Radio Top Shop, known then as FTV and landed a major voice over job voicing Channel 4′s ‘Passengers’.
Local Radio
A year later, she moved to Portsmouth to present Early Breakfast and co-host The Breakfast Show on 103.2 Power FM. In 1997 she moved away from co-hosting to take the reigns at Drivetime on 96.4 The Eagle in Guildford. She also became the female voice of Capital Radio, London at this time.
Leona went on to become the UK’s first female breakfast anchor, launching Surf 107.2 in Brighton in 1998. Digital Radio launched in 1999 and moved to Core Radio in 1999.
National Radio
At the end of the 90′s Leona’s voice over career had taken off. She was the voice of BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio 1, the GWR Group and The Box TV.
In early 2000 her radio career caught up too when she joined Virgin Radio as a DJ (renamed Absolute Radio in 2008, and not connected to the new DAB Virgin Radio). She gave up the radio voice overs elsewhere to become exclusive to (the original) Virgin Radio. From 2001-2010 she became the female voice of Virgin and then Absolute for which she was part of the Sony Radio Award for Imaging in 2010. She remains at the station as one of the most popular DJ’s, having taken the mid-morning show to record levels. Meanwhile on TV she was the main voice of E4 for several years, and still voices promos for ITV1 promos, BBC TV, and Sky1.
Today
Leona is the mid-morning host on Absolute Radio 10am-1pm. Plus she is on air daily at two of their digital stations.
She is known as the ‘Queen of Rock’ and interviews her idols – rock legends such as Brian Johnson and Slash on Absolute Classic Rock; a station that launched in 2003 where Leona was the first presenter. Her Evening Show is 7-10pm weeknights, as well as weekends 12-3pm. In January 2010 Leona was part of another new station, Absolute 80s on DAB all over the UK. Leona hosts afternoons 1-4pm.
Leona hosted and produced a successful podcast about music and motoring called Rock N Road from 2020-24. Her latest podcast focuses on amazing music guests from Muse to Queen called The Leona Graham Podcast, sponsored by Honda Motorcycles.
In 2023 Leona presented Sunday afternoons on The Sound, a classic rock station in New Zealand.
Leona hosted the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024 and 2025. She hosted backstage interviews at Rock N Roll Circus in 2023 and 2024 for Honda Motorcycles, as well as Women in Moto interviews in 2022-23.
Leona DJs at events such as the annual Oxford Cambridge boat race and Six Nations after parties.
Leona’s voice overs can be heard internationally. She is the main station voice of South Africa’s – 94.7 Highveld Stereo, 94.5 KFM & Solid Gold Weekends on Talk Radio 702 & 567, Virgin Radio Lebanon and Virgin Radio Bangkok. She is also one of the voices on the Canadian stations 102.3 Now Radio, in Edmonton and Niagara’s new 2DAY FM. Leona owns High Voltage Media Ltd which produces audio packages, most recently for clients in Kenya and Niagara, Canada.
Leona owns an Airbnb called Brighton Rock House. She rides a Honda NC750X motorbike and has reviewed cars for Parkers Car Reviews and her own social media.
Leona has a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Drama, and is a qualified school teacher. She is married, has 4 children, 2 dogs and 1 cat and lives in Wimbledon.
Hire Leona Graham for your event
Leona can use her extraordinary DJ skills to play the best music at your event!
She can specialise to your needs, whether it be music from the 60s to now, or specific decades. You decide!
Leona also makes personal appearances for a few and can even send birthday messages for your friends and family.
Hire Leona as a presenter
You may hear Leona on Absolute Radio every day but she is available for other radio shows. Do you need a classic rock presenter or someone to host a weekend show?
Enquire here: leona@leonagraham.com