Jones, Jack (John Allen)

Jones, Jack (John Allen), Grammy-winning saloon singer who brought rock to the casinos and swing to rock; b. Los Angeles, Jan. 14, 1938. The son of movie stars Allan Jones and Irene Hervey, Jack Jones was born on the day his father cut his only hit record, the 1938 #8 tune “Donkey Serenade.” A high school friend of Nancy Sinatra, one of the high points of Jones’s schooling was the afternoon her father sang for a school assembly. He began performing professionally in his father’s nightclub act in his late teens, but went out on his own shortly thereafter, supporting his show business aspirations by pumping gas. He was signed to Capitol Records, but except for helping him land better gigs, his records did little. During a three-week run at a San Francisco club, Jones was signed to Kapp records. He continued to pump gas while recording for Kapp, and was surprised to hear one of his records coming from the radio of a customer as he washed their windshield.

While his 1962 single “Lollipops and Roses” didn’t make the Top 40, it attracted enough attention to earn him a Best Male Pop Vocal Grammy. His first major hit was his 1963 version of “Wives and Lovers.” The song went to #14 on the charts and also won him a Best Male Pop Vocal Grammy. Jones charted four more hits over the next three years, including “Dear Heart” (#30, 1964), “The Race Is On” (#15, 1965), “The Impossible Dream” (#35, 1966), and “Lady” (#39, 1967). He also became one of the first middle-of-the-road vocalists to record songs by rock bands like The Doors and The Beatles. His albums fared even better, with his 1966 The Impossible Dream hitting #9.

Jones became well-known on the musical theater touring circuit, playing in Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, and other productions. His voice reached a whole new generation of listeners with the theme to the TV show The Love Boat.Still actively recording into the 1990s, he cut swing versions of songs by The Police and Keb’ Mo’ for 1997’s New Jack Swing.In 1998, Jones recorded a tribute to his friend Tony Bennett, just as Bennett was enjoying a revival among a new generation of young listeners.

Discography

Call Me Irresponsible (1963); Wives and Lovers (1963); Bewitched (1964); Where Love Has Gone (1964); My Kind of Town (1965); There’s Love & There’s Love & There’s Love (1965); Dear Heart & Other Great Songs of Love (1965); For the In Crowd (1966); Jack Jones Sings (1966); The Impossible Dream (1966); Lady (1967); Our Song (1967); Without Her (1967); What I Did for Love (1976); With One More Look at You (1977); Jack Jones (1982); Here’s to Love! (1983); The Jack Jones Christmas Album (1987); / Am a Singer (1987); White Christmas (1989); Jack Jones: The Gershwin Album (1991); The Mood Is Love (1993); Sings Michel Legrand (1993); Live at the Sands (1993); Christmas (1994); Music of the Night: Live at the London Palladium (1995); New Jack Swing (1997); Jack Jones Paints a Tribute to Tony Bennett (1998).

—Hank Bordowitz