The Best of the Jones Girls
Biography
The Jones Girls were a R&B trio of sisters from Detroit, Michigan. They first recorded for GM Records in 1968, then recorded for Philadelphia International Records with Gamble & Huff. The group consisted of sisters Brenda, Valorie and Shirley Jones. They served as backup singers for Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass, Aretha Franklin, and Le Pamplemousse. They worked with Diana Ross from 1975–78 and were the backup singers on Linda Clifford's 1978 album If My Friends Could See Me Now and on Tower of...
The Jones Girls were a R&B trio of sisters from Detroit, Michigan. They first recorded for GM Records in 1968, then recorded for Philadelphia International Records with Gamble & Huff.
The group consisted of sisters Brenda, Valorie and Shirley Jones. They served as backup singers for Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass, Aretha Franklin, and Le Pamplemousse. They worked with Diana Ross from 1975–78 and were the backup singers on Linda Clifford's 1978 album If My Friends Could See Me Now and on Tower of Power's lowly rated 1979 album Back on the Streets.
Their biggest hit was "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else". The song broke the Billboard Magazine Top 40 at #38 in May 1979. The song was also a Top 5 R&B hit. It became a gold record.
An additional hit followed in 1980, with the single "I Just Love The Man", charting at #9 in January 1981. The less successful "Nights Over Egypt" (released in 1981, charting at R&B #23 in 1982 and written by Dexter Wansel), is currently a cult classic that receives more airplay on urban radio stations than their previous bigger hits.
After the release and failure of their fourth U.S. album, On Target, lead singer Shirley Jones pursued a solo career and had a #1 R&B hit on Billboard with "Do You Get Enough Love", from her top-ten debut album Always in the Mood (1986). "Do You Get Enough Love" was written by Bunny Sigler who also produced it with Kenny Gamble. In 2007, Shirley released an album Ladies Night Out together with Jean Carn and Cherrelle, on CD and DVD.
"Who Can I Run To", from the band's self-titled 1979 debut album, was covered by Xscape in 1995. Their cover version became a number #1 R&B and #8 Pop hit. The original version was the B-side of "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else".
Valorie Jones died on December 2, 2001, in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 45. Lead singer Shirley Jones continues to perform successfully as The Jones Girls with two of her nieces and a nephew on background vocals.
Brenda Jones eventually moved to Atlanta, where she sang frequently with her four-piece band, performing both Jazz and R&B numbers, including many Jones Girls' tunes. She later moved to New York after her children were grown, to have a more active performing and recording schedule. On April 4, 2017 Brenda died. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
