“If you are in the music business, get people that you already knew, that you know they will have your best interest. One of the biggest lessons Jones said he learned about being in the business is to have his own team. Even if my project was ready, the label always went on their own schedule. “When I was on Jive, I was on there with a lot of other big names. Now, he has started his own record label.
The song reached #29 on the Hot 100 Billboard chart and #2 on the R&B chart. He wrote and produced the title cut off of his Where I Wanna Be release in 2000. On his current release, Jones has a particular cut, a love song called, “Forever.” “It’s about people who are in love and who want to grow old together.”Ī multi-talented artist, Jones plays piano and guitar, write and produces much of his own music. “You will be able to hear the growth in the music,” he said about the two releases. The CD will be a “prequel” of sorts to his next release, due to drop in 2010. Jones hopes to turn the tide in R&B music with The Lost Files, a collection of songs he recorded “years ago that didn’t make the previous CD”, he says. “R&B is missing stories about love and relationships.” “I’m happy that Maxwell, Joe, Chico and guys like that are back and still making music,” he says. Acknowledging that his style doesn’t necessarily reflect the times, Jones appreciates it and other singers in the same vein nonetheless.
Rather than slamming listeners with a message, Jones works it subtly, wooing them with his skillful vocals reminiscent of Stevie, Al and Donny. The Chicago-born, Atlanta-based singer/songwriter is known for wrapping his smooth tenor voice around song lyrics to flirt, confess love and lament loss. “But people like to hear songs about what they’re going through.” A lot of music now is about how much money I make and what car I’m driving,” Jones says. “Lots of people me up on Twitter and MySpace about how much they miss the 90s R&B. The 90s represents an era in music that has long-passed, and that notion is not lost on Jones or his fans. Now, Donell Jones is back, this time with The Lost Files, his latest CD release. And the following year, he made his mark with the hit “Where I Wanna Be”. Then in 1999, he blazed the R&B charts with “U Know What’s Up”. His voice knocked us off our feet with his soulful rendition of a Stevie Wonder classic in 1996.