Joe Jones

Joseph Charles Jones (August 12, 1926 – November 27, 2005) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger, who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Jones is also generally credited with discovering the Dixie Cups. He also worked with B. B. King. As a singer, Jones had his biggest hit in the form of the Top Five 1960 R&B success, "You Talk Too Much", which also reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Career Jones served in the U.S. Navy, where he played piano in a band, before studying music at the Juilliard Conservatory of Music. He formed a band, Joe Jones and his Atomic Rebops, in the late 1940s; band members played on Roy Brown's 1947 hit "Good Rocking Tonight". He was expelled from the New Orleans local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians for attempting to set up a rival organization but was later reinstated. but his subsequent releases were less successful.

Jones claimed to have composed many songs, including the song "Iko Iko." Although his assertions were originally successful, a federal jury and then Court of Appeals ruled that Jones did not write "Iko Iko," that his claims were fraudulent, and that the true writers were the band he managed, the Dixie Cups (the true original recording of this song had been released as Checker 787 by New Orleans singer and pianist Sugar Boy Crawford and his Cane Cutters in late 1953). The band hired music attorney Oren Warshavsky, who had previously won a case demonstrating that Jones falsely professed ownership of another Mardi Gras classic song, "It Ain't My Fault." Jones also failed in his bid to declare title (though not as an author) to yet another Mardi Gras classic song, "Carnival Time." He also recorded the original "California Sun" on Roulette Records in 1961, which was made a hit by the Rivieras in 1963.

He later moved into music publishing,

Discography Singles YearTitlePeak chartpositionsRecord LabelB-sideAlbum USPop USR&B 1954 "Will Call" — — Capitol "Adam Bit the Apple" 1956 "You Done Me Wrong" — — Herald "When Your Hair Has Turned To Silver" 1958 "A-Tisket A-Tasket" — — Roulette "Every Night About Eight" "The Prisoner's Song" — — "To Prove My Love to You" 1960 "You Talk Too Much" 3 9 "I Love You Still" You Talk Too Much "One Big Mouth (Two Big Ears)" — — "Here's What You Gotta Do" 1961 "California Sun" 89 — "Please Don’t Talk About Me When I'm Gone" "(I've Got A) Uh Uh Wife" — — "The Big Mule"