Mick Jones (Foreigner guitarist)

Michael Leslie Jones (born 27 December 1945 in Portsmouth, Hampshire) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the sole remaining original member of the British-American rock band Foreigner. Prior to Foreigner, he was in the band Spooky Tooth.

Mick Jones
Jones performing with Foreigner at VMWorld, San Francisco, 2 September 2009
Background information
Birth nameMichael Leslie Jones
Born (1945-12-27) 27 December 1945
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK
OriginAndover, Hampshire, England, UK
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • producer
Instruments
  • Keyboard
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1961–present
Labels
Associated actsForeigner
Wonderwheel
Johnny Hallyday
Blackburds
Leslie West Band
Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings
Spooky Tooth
The Mick Jones Band
Billy Joel
Van Halen
Ben E. King
Bad Company
801
Websiteforeigneronline.com

Life and career

Michael Leslie Jones was born on 27 December 1945 in Portsmouth, England. 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 Mick 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 this 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 wrote the band's most successful single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", by himself.[1][2] 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,[3] and in 2002 co-wrote the song "On Her Mind" with Duncan Sheik.[4] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he played with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.

He was married to socialite/writer Ann Dexter-Jones, mother of Mark, Samantha and Charlotte Ronson. Ann and Mick have two children, Annabelle and Alexander Dexter-Jones. Married for nearly 25 years, Jones and Dexter-Jones divorced in 2007. In 2017, the couple remarried.[5] He also has two sons, from prior relationships, Roman and Christopher Jones.

Album producer credits

In addition to the Foreigner albums, Jones has produced the following:

Discography

Studio albums

Charting singles

Title Release Peak chart positions
Album

US
Main
"Just Wanna Hold" 1989 16 Mick Jones

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.