Jill Jones

Jill Jones (born July 11, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress, who performed as a backing vocalist for Teena Marie and Prince in the 1980s. She is best known for her various collaborative works with Prince in the 1980s and 1990s, including her self-titled debut album in 1987. Since 2001, she has released three acoustic and dance albums, with her most recent being 2016's I Am.

Overview Jones was born in Lebanon, Ohio on July 11, 1962. Her mother, a fashion model, is of African American heritage, and her father, a jazz drummer, is Italian. Jones was raised mostly by her grandparents, until relocating to Los Angeles when her mother remarried.

She became a backup vocalist for Prince when he invited her to the Sunset Sound recording studios in 1982, to sing backing vocals for several tracks on the album 1999. She had a bit part as a waitress in the film Purple Rain (1984), Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from critics, but was not a commercial success. As of 2007, the album has been out of print for many years.

Jones recorded numerous demo tracks in London in the late 1980s, including the tracks "Deep Kiss", "Unattainable Love", "Long Time", "Red", "White Dogs" & "Tango", among others. In 1989, she contributed a song ("The Ground You Walk On") to the soundtrack for the film Earth Girls Are Easy.

Several demos were recorded for a second album on Paisley Park, and a video was filmed for the track "Boom Boom", but an album never surfaced. In 1993, she released the dance single "Bald" on Flying Records.

Jones also did backing vocals for Apollonia 6 and recorded the Prince-written single "G-Spot", which was remixed for a 12" release by Blondie's Jimmy Destri. She also sang lead vocals on Japanese artist Ryuichi Sakamoto's single "You Do Me" from his 1990 album Beauty. In addition, Jones wrote and co-produced the song "The Great Pretender" for Lisa Lisa. She was also lead vocalist for the band Baby Mother, who recorded an album in 1995 for London Records, which remains unreleased. In 1996, she toured performing co-lead vocals as part of Chic with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards before Edwards' death, and can be heard on the 1999 Chic release Live at the Budokan.

The Prince song "She's Always in My Hair", a B-side to the single "Raspberry Beret" (1985), was written about Jones.

Though Prince aided in the production of her first album, there was no input from Prince on the sessions for Jones' intended second album, which was more pop-rock oriented. From 2001 to the present, Jones has been performing acoustic rock as well as producing edgy and modern dance tracks.

She is also featured in the unreleased Vanity 6 song "Vibrator". In this song, she does a skit in a department store where Vanity goes to get batteries for her vibrator. Prince is also in the skit.

Solo career Jill provided vocals on a cover version of Carly Simon's "Why" on Ronny Jordan's album A Brighter Day in 2000 as well as contributing a cover version of Blondie's "Call Me" to a Giorgio Moroder tribute album. This was subsequently issued as a single with various remixes, including ones by Todd Terry and Mantronix.

With the help of former Paisley Park photographer and close friend David Honl, Jones released a second album entitled Two in 2001, with instrumentalist Chris Bruce. Jones performed lead vocals on the 2004 album Wasted, which was credited to The Grand Royals featuring Jill Jones. A collaboration with dance outfit Funky Junction resulted in the single "Someone to Jump Up", which has appeared on various Hedkandi compilation releases.

In 2008, Jones joined a performance in New York by Jeremy Gloff, coming up on stage to sing with Gloff's cover of her song "So Much in Love" On April 28, 2009, Jones released "Living for the Weekend" on the Peace Bisquit label. Although Wasted and Two are out of print, both albums can be found on the iTunes Store, along with "Living for the Weekend".

2014 saw the release of the single "This Is How It Feels" with Italian techno act Get Far. In August 2015, Jones made the track "Forbidden Love" available via SoundCloud. This track is from her dance album, I Am released in February 2016 via Peace Bisquit. Currently, she maintains her own fan pages on Twitter and Facebook.

In April 2024, Jill, with the help of Scottish musician Neil Billinness resurrected demos from the late 1980’s and bundled them into her fourth album “The London Sessions”.

Discography

Albums Jill Jones (1987), Paisley Park Two (2001), Dav Music Wasted (2004), Peace Bisquit I Am (2016), Peace Bisquit The London Sessions (2024), NERO

Singles "Mia Bocca" b/w "77 Bleeker St." (1987), Paisley Park (No.6, Italy) "G-Spot" b/w "Baby Cries (Ay Yah)" (1987), Paisley Park "For Love" (1987), Paisley Park "Bald" (1993), Flying Records "Call Me" (2000), Cause-N-ff-ct Records "Station" (2001), Dav "Someone to Jump Up" (2008) "Living for the Weekend" (2009) "This Is How It Feels" (2014), with Get Far "Forbidden Love" (2015)