Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones
Bobby with Mike large photo (2).jpg Bobby with Mike large photo (2).jpg Soul Singer Bobby Jonz
Born	1936/01/02
🏳️ Nationality	United States
Other names	Bobby Jones
🏫 Education	High School
💼 Occupation	Soul-Blues Singer
👔 Employer	God (he is deceased)
👩 Spouse(s)	Joan West
👶 Children	Joseph Jones

Early Life

Bobby Jonz was born Bob Willy Jones on January 2, 1936 on the chop house floor of a plantation in Farmerville Louisiana. A chance encounter when Jonz was 15 years old led to a job as a driver for a prominent Country Singer. Jonz was at a local restaurant when Hank Williams Asked if he could join him at his outdoor table as there wasn't an empty space at any of the other tables. They struck up a conversation, at the end of which Williams asked Jonz if he had a driver's license. When Jonz replied that he did Williams hired him to drive Williams to different live performances. The job lasted for six months.

Career

Bobby Jonz began singing as Bobby Jones. He went about as far as he could in the Louisiana circuit. In 1959 he moved to Chicago. within short order he got a job singing with Blues Hall of Fame group the Four Aces. He replaced Junior Wells, who resigned his group membership when he had a solo hit with "Messin' With the Kid". By the mid1960s Jonz had recorded a Single for VJ Records and had sung three songs on what would become a very prominent record in Blues circles. The LP was entitled Blues From Chicago. I featured four young, white blues musicians, Charlie Musselwhite, Harvey Mandel, Barry Goldberg and Neil Merryweather. Most of the tracks were instrumental blues but three of the songs needed a singer and Bobby was hired to do that. He even worked with the band in the Catskills one summer for a very large amount of money. The white boys got credited with singing the three songs and Bobby was only occasionally credited over the years. The rest of the 1960s, as well as the 1970s and 1980s consisted of a lot of club gigs and a series of singles for various small independent record labels including Expo, Kack, Cap, Lionel, Big Business, Crooked Road, Dispo and Expansion among others. He also had an LP out with Toya Records in 1972.

Bobby reached his zenith in the late 1990's with the CD's under producer and Record Company owner Johnny Vincent with the "In The Mood For Love" CD on his Ace Records, "Bobby Jonz Country CD on Avanti. The previous CD yielding two singles that were semi hits "Sneakin' and Freakin'" and "In The Mood For Love". He also sang and toured with The Manish Boys and performed on their CD's from 2008-2010.

Jonz signed with Loveforce International Records LLC and Loveforce International Music LLC in January 2020. He passed away in July, 2020. The Label has released several of Jonz' last recordings. The Publishing Company administers Jonz Music Publishing Company.

Jonz changed his name from Bobby Jones to Bobby Jonz after he moved to Las Vegas when gospel singer and televangelist Bobby Jones was appearing in Las Vegas at the same time Jonz was and he didn't want his audience to confuse the two.

Personal Life

Jonz was only married once to Joan West. They had a son Joseph together.

References

1. https://www.amazon.com/All-Because-Blues-Music-Bobby/dp/1984123777
2. Hildebran, Lee, 2009, "As Long As You Can Sing It, It Will Pay You". Interview with Bobby Jonz for Living Blues magazine(Issue 201/Volume 40) #3pp 18-23 Jackson Mississippi.
3. https://www.southernsoulrnb.com/artistguide.cfm?aid=82
4. https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/celebrity/prolific-blues-and-soul-singer-bobby-jonz-dies-from-covid-19-2080090/
5. https://chicagoreader.com/music/the-secret-history-of-chicago-music/its-never-too-late-to-give-soul-blues-master-bobby-jonz-his-flowers/

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