John Jones (record producer)
John Jones | |
|---|---|
 John Jones, Los Angeles (2009) | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Idris Jones |
| Born | 12 December 1957 |
| Origin | London, England, UK |
| Genres | Rock music, Pop music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, record producer, songwriter, composer, audio engineer |
| Instruments | Guitars, vocals, keyboards |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Associated acts | Duran Duran, Celine Dion, Fleetwood Mac, Sir George Martin, Dee Long, Dan Hill, Steve Ferrone, Alan Frew, Emily Richards. |
| Website | www |
John Jones (born 12 December 1957) is a British-Canadian pop and rock multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, programmer, musician, record producer, songwriter, composer and audio engineer, known for working with Duran Duran, Celine Dion, and Sir George Martin.
Jones is a multi-instrumentalist musician who performed with local bands in Toronto, Canada, before turning professional at 18 years of age, and touring with several bands before concentrating on recording and music production, where he specialized in computer music programming and digital sampling, building recording studios and working with the Fairlight CMI and Sir George Martin at AIR Studios in London, leading to award winning productions with Duran Duran, Celine Dion, and Fleetwood Mac.
Jones was awarded the 1997 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year (Producer), Album Of The Year (Engineer) and Pop Album Of The Year (Producer), Pop Album Of The Year (Engineer)’’, for Celine Dion's Seduces Me, from the multi-platinum CD, Falling Into You.[1]
Early Career[edit]
Jones led local bands in school where he played bass, guitar, keyboards, and sang lead vocals, performing original and cover songs. He was introduced to sound recording, synthesizers, and electronic music, by his music teacher, Canadian electronic and classical music composer, Ann Southam. Jones briefly studied piano with Darwin Aiken.
Jones turned professional at 18, and soon began touring and recording with Bond, and Gary O's, Kid Rainbow. After recording demo tapes in the Toronto studio of Rush producer Terry Brown, and learning to make tea, he was signed as a song writer to ATV Music Publishing, and Jones began his life long recording and music production career.
In 1979, Jones started a 15-year musical and business partnership with Dee Long of Klaatu, which led to building ESP Studios with Long and drummer Frank Watt. ESP was a 16-track analogue MCI equipped recording studio, based around a Fairlight CMI, and constructed inside an 1860s blacksmith shop and antique store, in Buttonville, Ontario, where they worked on recordings and productions for Klaatu, Alice Cooper, Gary O', Strange Advance, Dalbello, Rational Youth, Bob Ezrin, Red Rider, Images in Vogue, Dan Hill, The Partland Brothers and Glass Tiger.
Jones wrote songs in Canada for Priscilla Wright, and the number one Rational Youth hits; "Bang On", and “Malade”, as well as composing scores for the films, Hot Money with Orson Welles, A Perfect Stranger, and the TV Series "Blue Murder", with Bob Segarini.
England[edit]
Jones and Long relocated to London, England, where they set up Studio 5, the Fairlight CMI computer/midi music studio, with Sir George Martin and John Burgess (Associated Independent Recording), at AIR Studios on Oxford Street in 1986. Studio 5 was a pioneer in the development of MIDI and digital hardware and software, which helped fuel the digital recording revolution.[2]
Productions for Sir George Martin, Under Milk Wood, Yes, The Rolling Stones, Demis Roussos, Paul McCartney, Terence Trent D'Arby, Elton John, The Outfield, Mark Knopfler, Willy DeVille, Roy Wood, Duran Duran and many others followed, until AIR Studios relocated to Hampstead in 1992.
While at AIR, Jones performed on piano at the LSO Summer Pops '87 at Barbican Hall, with Sir George Martin, who conducted the London Symphony Orchestra playing his Beatles Yellow Submarine Suite. Jones also wrote the MIDI chapter in Sir George Martin's book; Making Music, and appeared in a long playing segment of BBC's Science In Action, filmed at AIR Studios, in Studio 5.
Jones and Long also worked on the development of the S1000 Sampler for Akai, producing one of the first Sample CD's; The AIR Sessions, which developed into the original sound library for the S1000 sampler.
Duran Duran[edit]
Jones began working with Duran Duran at AIR Studios, where he produced the B side single, "This Is How A Road Gets Made", and programmed sample sounds for their Big Thing tour. Soon after, he was working full time on their Liberty album, with producer Chris Kimsey. During the Liberty sessions, Jones produced the promotional single, "Burning the Ground", which was made up of samples of Duran Duran songs, from their Decade: Greatest Hits album release.
In 1991, Jones set up a recording studio in the living room of Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, where they produced The Wedding Album, featuring the award-winning song Ordinary World, and the singles Too Much Information and Come Undone.[3]
Jones performed with Duran Duran for their MTV Unplugged show in New York in 1993, and went on to work on Duran Duran’s Thank You album of cover songs, released in 1995, which was voted #1 of the 50 Worst Albums Ever! by Q magazine in 2006.[4]
Other Projects[edit]
In 1990, Jones created samples for John Cale for the album Songs for Drella, a memorial to Andy Warhol, written and performed live with Lou Reed. He worked with Chris Kimsey on Paul Rodgers's Laying Down the Law, and on the Rolling Stones' Flashpoint (album), where he edited live tracks and created the intro piece, "Continental Drift."
Jones produced an EP for Ny Donsk, from Iceland
Jones produced Alan Frew's, Hold On, recorded in Los Angeles, for EMI Canada, where Jones co-wrote the album's #1 hit song, So Blind, which won awards from the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada for the Most Performed Song of 1995.
Jones wrote and produced tracks for Dan Hill's album I’m Doing Fine, spawning the Jones & Hill song, "Wrapped", and Fleetwood Mac's Time (Fleetwood Mac album), featuring Mick Fleetwood on lead vocal, and Emily Richard’s, To Love You, the first song downloaded 1 million times on mp3.com.
Jones was awarded the 1997 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year (Producer), Album Of The Year (Engineer) and Pop Album Of The Year (Producer), 'Pop Album Of The Year (Engineer) for producing Celine Dion's Seduces Me, from the multi-platinum CD, Falling Into You.
During 1998, Jones composed scores for the award winning film, Stuart Bliss, and also the films, Lucky Lawson, and Ipola (composed with Steve Ferrone).
John Jones released his long-awaited first solo album of his own material called One Moment in Time in 1998. The album garnered three MP3.com Pop Chart number ones, and extensive music video play, for the single's State Of Mind and Turning Me inside Out.
2000s[edit]
Jones' solo album; One Moment in Time, was re-released by Victor Entertainment in Japan in late 2001, to coincide with a Kirin Beer advertising campaign, for which Jones sang the lead vocal on the song, I'll Be There, recorded for Simon Le Bon's Japanese music company Syn Entertainment.
Jones and drum legend Steve Ferrone of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers started working together with Duran Duran in 1991, in 2003, they founded Drumroll Musicians Workshop studio in Burbank, California. They were joined by guitarist and producer, Steve Postell, working on numerous productions and sessions including Steve Ferrone's Farm Fur, Keb' Mo', Emily Richards, Edgar Winter, Jeff Golub, Sabian, Dean & Robert Deleo, Alex Ligertwood, and Brian Auger. Ferrone and Jones composed the score for the film Puzzle.
In November 2009, Jones released his second solo album, black n white, with Steve Ferrone drumming.
Recent Projects[edit]
Jones worked with composer Nick Wood and Julian Lennon on the song, "Children of the World", benefitting cancer victims, and "Hope", also with Wood, Lennon, Tetsuya Komuro, and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston, to aid victims of the devastating 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Jones produced the 2015, Meninos Do Morumbi & Friends album, a benefit for the Brazilian school and social program for favela children, founded by Flavio Pimenta, for the Music is Hope Foundation’’, with musical contributions from Lennon, Richie Kotzen, Alan Frew, Gary O, Alex Ligertwood, Emily Richards, Terry McDermott, Gary Twinn, Gene Anderson, Barnett O'Hara, [Ferrone, Michael Thompson, and Richard Martinez.
Jones co-produced the Joey Niceforo orchestral pop album, "Priceless", which was recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios by engineer Steve Price, and conducted by co-producer and arranger, Steve Sidwell.
Jones produced the Terry McDermott hit U.K. single "Lost Again", and the 2018 Terry McDermott album, Beautiful Destruction.
Partial Discography[edit]
Partial John Jones production discography:
- Heredity – Rational Youth, 1985
- "1-2-3" – Roy Wood, 1987
- Under Milk Wood – George Martin, 1988
- Burning the Ground – Duran Duran, 1989
- Liberty – Duran Duran, 1990
- Flashpoint – Rolling Stones, 1991
- Duran Duran "Wedding Album" – Duran Duran, 1993
- Hold On – Alan Frew, 1995
- Thank You – Duran Duran, 1995
- Time – Fleetwood Mac, 1995
- Falling into You – Celine Dion, 1996
- You Give – Emily Richards, 1999
- More Head – Farm Fur, 2005
- Lost Again – Terry McDermott, 2016
References[edit]
- ↑ "Winners - 39th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1996)".
- ↑ All Music, John Burgess Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
- ↑ muzines, Recording 'Ordinary World' by Richard Buskin
- ↑ Q magazine, The 50 Worst Albums Ever!
- Sources
External links[edit]
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