In 1961, a 21 year old with a beautiful voice recorded the song, “Lollipops and Roses.”
That was 54 years ago this month.
“We were swimming against the tide,” Jack Jones told KNPR’s State of Nevada. “Rock ‘n roll was well in place, and making a ballad album like we did was just for my mother, we thought. We were shocked to find this song so popular.”
Jack Jones earned a Grammy for Best Pop Male Performance. Another Grammy came a couple of years later for the Burt Bacharach-Hal David tune, “Wives and Lovers.”
More than 50 albums later, Jack Jones’s voice has become part of America’s soundtrack.
In the 1970s it was Jack Jones singing the theme to the hit TV show, “The Love Boat.” More recently his singing and acting has been featured on the Emmy-nominated Cartoon Network mini-series, “Over the Garden Wall.” His songs have been used in the movie, “American Hustle” (“I’ve Got Your Number”), and AMC’s “Mad Men” (“Lollipops and Roses”).
He’s had a worldwide on-going concert career, including countless appearances in Las Vegas over the years. September 22 and 23, Jack Jones will perform at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino.
As himself and as an actor, Jones has made many television and movie appearances over the years, including: “McMillan and Wife,” “The Love Boat,” “The Tonight Show,” “The Match Game,” “Airplane II: The Sequel” – the list is long and impressive.
Like father, like son. Like mother, like son.
Jack Jones is the son of Allan Jones (1907-1992), who acted and sang in movies such as the Marx Brothers’s “A Night at The Opera” (1935), and “A Day at The Races” (1937). He also sang on stage. And his recording of “Donkey Serenade” is among the all-time biggest sellers for RCA Records.
Jack Jones’s mother is Irene Hervey (1909-1998). Hervey acted in movies including “The Stranger’s Return” (1933), “The Dude Ranger” (1934), “Cactus Flower” (1969), and “Play Misty For Me” (1971). On TV she had roles in “The Twilight Zone” (1964), “Ironsides” (1968), and “My Three Sons” (1969-1972).
Jack Jones is finishing an album that will be titled, “Jack Jones: Seriously Frank,” a celebration of what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday this December.
The new album was recorded with Patrick Williams leading a 22-piece Big Band. Jones is singing a lot of the same songs Sinatra sang, including, “Only the Lonely,” a classic among classics in the Sinatra repertoire.
“I’ve never done that song. I never thought I would. But it just turned out to be beautiful,” says Jones.
Jack Jones says that when he was a kid he would come home from school and listen to Sinatra records. He paid attention.
“What Sinatra does for a young singer who’s listening is teach him to interpret a song as if it’s conversation,” says Jack Jones. “[The words are] phrased like he would be talking. That’s what people loved about him.”
Jack Jones has said, “I don’t want to retire until my voice tells me to.” Jones told KNPR: “The irony is that if I lose my voice I won’t be able to hear myself tell myself to retire.”