Mick Jones | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Leslie Jones |
Born | Portsmouth, Hampshire, England | 27 December 1944
Origin | Andover, Hampshire, England |
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Years active | 1961–present |
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Michael Leslie Jones (born 27 December 1944) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the founder and leader of the British-American rock band Foreigner. [1] [2] Prior to Foreigner, he was in the band Spooky Tooth. [3]
Michael Leslie Jones was born on 27 December 1944 in Portsmouth, England.[ citation needed ] Jones started playing guitar at an early age, and decided to pursue a career in music.
He began his professional music career in the early 1960s as a member of the band Nero and the Gladiators, who scored two minor British hit singles in 1961. After the demise of Nero and the Gladiators, Jones worked as a songwriter and session musician in France for such artists as Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, and Johnny Hallyday ("The French Elvis"), for whom he wrote many songs, including "Je suis né dans la rue" and "À tout casser" (which features Jimmy Page on guitar). When The Beatles toured France in 1964, they befriended Jones when Hallyday's girlfriend and future wife, Sylvie Vartan, played on the same bill as they did. Between 1965 and 1971, Jones recorded in France with Tommy Brown (Thomas R. Browne) as State of Mickey & Tommy, as well as under other session names, including the Blackburds, Nimrod, and the J&B.
After leaving France to return to his home country, Jones joined Gary Wright, formerly of the band Spooky Tooth, to form Wonderwheel in 1971. In 1972, Jones and Wright reformed Spooky Tooth and, after that, Jones was a member of the Leslie West Band. He also played guitar on the albums Wind of Change (1972) for Peter Frampton, and Dark Horse (1974) for George Harrison.
In 1976, Jones formed Foreigner with Ian McDonald, and recruited lead singer Lou Gramm. Jones co-produced all of the band's albums and co-wrote most of their songs with Gramm. Jones is credited with writing the band's most successful single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", by himself. [4] [5] Tensions developed within the band during the late 1980s, attributed to a difference in musical taste between Gramm, who favoured a more hard-edged rock, as opposed to Jones' interest in synthesisers. Gramm left the band in 1990 but returned in 1992. In 1989 Jones released his only solo album, titled Mick Jones , on the Atlantic Records label. Jones is the only person to play on every Foreigner album.
In between his Foreigner commitments, Jones also started a side career as a producer for such albums as Van Halen's 5150 (1986), Bad Company's Fame and Fortune (1986) and Billy Joel's Storm Front (1989).
He co-wrote with Eric Clapton the song "Bad Love" on Clapton's Journeyman album, [6] and in 2002 co-wrote the song "On Her Mind" with Duncan Sheik. [7] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he played with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. In 2024, Jones was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Foreigner. [8]
Jones is married to socialite/writer/jewelry designer Ann Dexter-Jones, mother of Mark, Samantha and Charlotte Ronson. He and Dexter-Jones have two children, Annabelle Dexter-Jones and Alexander Dexter-Jones. Married for nearly 25 years (1983–2007), they divorced in 2007. In March 2017, the couple remarried. [9] Jones also has two sons, Roman Jones and Christopher Jones, from previous relationships.
In February 2024, Jones revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease years back, citing this as his reason for not touring with Foreigner since 2023. [10]
In addition to the Foreigner albums, Jones has produced the following:
Title | Release | Peak chart positions | Album |
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US Main | |||
"Just Wanna Hold" | 1989 | 16 | Mick Jones |
Sylvie Vartan is a Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV.
Mick Jones may refer to:
5150 is the seventh studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on March 24, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records and was the first of four albums to be recorded with lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. The album was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, in turn named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person. The album hit number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band's previous album, 1984, which had peaked at number 2 behind Michael Jackson's Thriller album, on which Eddie made a guest appearance.
Foreigner is a British-American rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, the last of whom was also a founding member of King Crimson. Foreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the US.
Spooky Tooth was a rock band originally formed in Carlisle, England in 1967. The band was principally active between 1967 and 1974, and re-formed several times in later years.
Agent Provocateur is the fifth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on December 14, 1984. The album was the band's only number-one album in the United Kingdom, and it reached the top five in the United States. Although album sales were lower than their previous work in the US, it contains the band's biggest hit single, the album’s love theme "I Want to Know What Love Is", which is their only #1 single in the UK and the US, staying at the top spot for three and two weeks, respectively. The follow-up single, "That Was Yesterday", also proved to be a sizeable hit, peaking at #12 in the US. The album was certified Platinum in the UK by the BPI, and triple Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
Inside Information is the sixth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on December 7, 1987. The album debuted at 15, on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and was certified Platinum in the U.S. for sales exceeding one million copies. Although a huge standard by any country's charting method, the band's sales were certainly plummeting since the release of 4 in 1981. It was the last album to feature the '80s core lineup of Gramm, Jones, Wills, and Elliott.
Mr. Moonlight is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Foreigner, released by Arista Records in Europe on 24 October and by BMG Entertainment in Japan on 23 November 1994. In the United States and Canada, it appeared in early 1995 on the Rhythm Safari label. Recorded at seven different studios across the States, the album was produced by Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, and Mike Stone, with an additional production by Phil and Joe Nicolo. It was Foreigner's last studio release until Can't Slow Down (2009).
Louis Andrew Grammatico, known professionally as Lou Gramm, is an American singer. He is best known as co-founder and lead vocalist of the rock band Foreigner from 1976 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2003, during which time the band had numerous successful albums and singles. In 2024, Gramm was selected as an inductee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Foreigner.
John Douglas Edwards is an American rock singer who sang for the bands Buster Brown, Montrose, King Kobra, Wild Horses, Northrup, Royal Jelly and is best known as the second lead singer of the rock band Foreigner.
"Juke Box Hero" is a song by British-American rock band Foreigner written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones from their 1981 album 4. It first entered the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in July 1981 and eventually reached #3 on that chart. Released as the album's third single in early 1982, it subsequently went to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart
In the Studio with Redbeard is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas, based rock and roll disc jockey Doug "Redbeard" Hill.
Bruce Turgon is an American bass guitarist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. Bruce has played in several bands throughout his career including: Foreigner, The Lou Gramm Band, Shadow King, Steve Stevens, Warrior, Black Sheep and Showcase.
"Cold as Ice" is a 1977 song written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones that was first released by British-American rock band Foreigner from their eponymous debut album. It became one of the best-known songs of the band in the US, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was initially the B-side of some versions of the "Feels Like the First Time" 45 rpm single.
"Feels Like the First Time" is the debut single by British-American rock band Foreigner. It was written by Mick Jones and released in 1977 from the band's eponymous debut album. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Bad Love" is a song recorded by English singer and guitarist Eric Clapton, who co-wrote it with Foreigner's lead guitarist Mick Jones. The track was released in the UK in January 1990 as the first single from Clapton's 1989 studio album Journeyman.
Richard William Wills is an English bass guitarist. He is best known for his work with the rock band Foreigner and his associations with the Small Faces, Roxy Music, Peter Frampton, Spooky Tooth, David Gilmour, Bad Company and The Jones Gang.
The Mirror is an album by the British rock band Spooky Tooth. It was the only Spooky Tooth album to be released without contributions from Mike Harrison. It also was their last album for nearly twenty-five years, until Cross Purpose in 1999. The Mirror was released in October 1974, one month before group members had permanently disbanded. Members went on to form such bands as Foreigner and The Only Ones.
"Blue Morning, Blue Day" is a song written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones that was first released as the third single on Foreigner's second album, Double Vision, reaching #15 on the Hot 100, the band's sixth top 40 single in two years, and #45 in the U.K. The song was backed with the Mick Jones song "I Have Waited So Long". "Blue Morning, Blue Day" is also available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series and was released on clear blue vinyl.
Edmond Vartan was a French musician, bandleader, arranger, and record producer of Armenian descent.