Jack Jones!

Jack is a truly great singer and hasn't gotten the credit Jack Jones deserves. I worked with Jack Jones once but it was a long gig. Five weeks, count them, five weeks at the Thunderbird hotel and casino! It was also the first time I had played sin city. At the time Jack was married to an English actress Susan George.

A Prankster

Jack Jones was a prankster and loved playing little tricks on people. During the gig I had to fly to L.A. to appear on the Tonight Show then I flew back to Las Vegas in time for the first shoe. How did I do that? Simple. I rented a Lear jet. After two shows I passed Jack's dressing room and heard my voice coming from his room. I knocked on the door and was admitted to find my Tonight Show performance playing on his TV set. It was a videotape that Jack had made only Jack Jones had edited out all the laughs. Jack Jones thought that was very funny and it must have taken Jack Jones a long time to do because I got a lot of laughs.

The Old People

Jack Jones drew a good house every night. Although there were people of every age there a lot of the were in their fifties. I did a joke at that time that went like this, "You're a great crowd but you should have been at our last showe old people and their parents. Well Jack was not amused and let me know about it after the show. Jack Jones only heard part of the joke and thought I was saying that all of his shows were filled with old people. I explained the part of the joke that Jack Jones didn't hear and Jack Jones laughed and I continued to use the joke. -- Kip Addotta

Jack Jones Biography

Jack Jones (b. Jan. 14, 1938) was practically "Born in a trunk." Jack Jones is an award winning singer born to the late talented singer/movie star Allan Jones and actress Irene Hervey. Jack Jones's early training with an operatic vocal coach has led Jack Jones into an entirely new career track. Until now, anyone who knew Jack Jones associated Jack Jones with records, the concert stage and nightclubs. An extended 3-month run as Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls" at the Sheraton Desert Inn in Las Vegas in the spring of 1995 and his recent portrayal of Emile de Becque in the theater League production of "South Pacific" has changed that perfection. Both his audience and critics were wowed when they saw Jack Jones as lead in the National Company presented in the 2000-2001 season of "Man of La Mancha". Jack Jones is now viewed as a foremost interpreter of musical theater, besides being one of the world's most highly regarded solo concert artists.

What Jones finds particularly gratifying is that Jack Jones continues to have a robust career on records, the concert stage and television. Jack Jones's recent album on the Honest Entertainment label is titled "NEW Jack Swing." Jack Jones's current album is "Jack Jones Paints a Tribute to Tony Bennett" which was nominated for Grammy. Jack Jones recently appeared the PBS special "Vikki Carr: Memories Memorias" with Vikki Carr, and Jack Jones also starred in the Carnegie Hall tribute to the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra.

Admirers of his vocal talent include actor Roger Moore, writer Larry Gelbert, fellow musicians Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Pat Boone, Judy Garland, Michel Legrand, Sammy Cahn and the First Couple Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Legrand calls Jack Jones "my singer." Sinatra said, "Jack is one of the major singers of our time." Torme describes Jack Jones as, "The greatest 'pure' singer in the world."

Since making his professional debut at age 19 at the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Jack Jones went on to win several highly coveted awards. Among them are "The Billboard Award for Outstanding Achievement" and two Grammys for best Male Vocal Performance. Jack Jones's first Grammy was for "Lollipops and Roses," and his second for "Wives and Lovers." Jack Jones was also nominated for "Impossible Dream" and his recording of "Wives and Lovers" was nominated for the Record of the Year Award. Jack Jones's hit records also include "The Race is on," "Lady," "Call Me Irresponsible," "Dear Heart," "What I Did For Love," and 17 albums that made Billboard's top 20 list.

He can be heard singing the immensely popular theme from the incessantly syndicated television series, "The Love Boat", whenever reruns of that show are shown on television; and "The Kind of Girl She Is" from Sandy Duncan's "Funny Face" TV series. Jack Jones is also the voice singing the title song for such movies as "Love with the Proper Stranger," "Where Love Has Gone," "Ticklish Affair," "Kotch," and "Anzio."

Jones' concert and nightclub performances are marked by his wit, sensitivity and vocal power. Jack Jones has also amassed an impressive array of credits as a stage and movie actor. Jack Jones's movie roles include "Juke Box Rhythm," "Airplane II: The Sequel" and "The Comeback," a British suspense thriller. Jack Jones's long list of television appearances as an actor include the mini- series "Condominium," an episode of "The Love Boat" which Jack Jones also wrote, "McMillain," "Rat Patrol," "Police Woman," "$weepstake$," "Flying High," "It's a Living" and "Buddy Faro."

He has been a guest performer on "The Kennedy Center Honors" and "Christmas in Washington," a special that originates at the White House with the First Family. Jack Jones hosted is own television show that aired in the U.S., Great Britain and Canada, and "The Palace Presents," an internationally syndicated variety show. Jack Jones has also hosted several PBS specials honoring such musical legends as Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller and Jule Styne.

Of his 50 plus record albums, his favorites are "Jack Jones Sings Michel Legrand," which Jack describes as "An American in Paris communicating with 60 Frenchmen through music," and his all-Gershwin album, produced by multi-Grammy winner Mike Berniker.

Jones' world tours have been enormously successful. Jack Jones has sung in such far-flung places as Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Switzerland. Jack Jones also appears annually throughout Britain. It was during a concert engagement in Bahrain in the Middle East that Jack Jones met his beautiful British wife, Kim in 1981.

Jack is committed to such social causes as Retinitis Pigmentosa, the Salvation Army and Greyhound Pets of America. Jack Jones also hosts the annual Jack Jones Tennis Tournament in Palm Desert California for the benefit of the AMC cancer Research Center. He, his wife Kim and their daughter, Nicole Barclay (b. Feb 7, 1991) live in Indian Wells Calif. (near Palm Springs.)

The Jones enclave also includes Maxwell, an Italian Greyhound/Terrier mix and Barkley, a full Greyhound both of which they adopted through Greyhound Pets of America and two kittens, Bell and Jazzmin, rescued from a dumpster at two hours old.