Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer from the United States. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.

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Background

Born in Chicago, Jones grew up in a family she has described as "lower-middle-class-hillbilly-hipster" in Chicago; Los Angeles; Phoenix, Arizona; and Olympia, Washington. Her grandfather, nicknamed "Peg Leg Jones," had come from a vaudeville background, and Jones has spoken of her Welsh ancestry and her Gypsy heritage.

Her father, Richard Loris Jones, worked as a restaurant manager, waiter, furniture mover. He studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, and also had musical leanings, and writing 40's style jazz ballads and a lullaby for Rickie Lee's older sister entitled "The Moon is Made of Gold", which was recorded by Rickie on Rob Wasserman's Duets as well as her own 2009 release. Her mother, Bettye Jones, was a waitress who later became a nurse. Jones's younger brother, Danny, was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with one leg and partial paralysis; by fourteen, she was living in Arizona with her father when she ran away to California to a rock festival. The family relocated to Elma, Washington, and then to Seal Beach, California, when Rickie ran away again. The family disbanded and Rickie was picked up entering Detroit from Canada on July 4, 1970. She lived with her father in Kansas City and Chicago, until they wound up with her mother and sister back in Olympia, Washington, where they lived in a trailer park before the family found a small farm in Lacey, Washington. Rickie was asked to leave Timberline High School during her junior year. She enrolled in Tacoma Community College at the age of 17, and left home on her 18 birthday.

She settled in Venice, California, at the age of eighteen in 1973. She earned her living by waiting tables and playing at local clubs, attending college in Santa Monica. At the age of 23 a neighbor took interest in her music, and helped her get publicity photos and booked her at some local showcase clubs. She was signed by the time she got to her fourth showcase. When she met Lowell George in 1977, she was already singing jazz standards ("Makin' Whoopee", "Lush Life", "My Funny Valentine", "Something Cool") in local Venice jazz dives. These songs would find their way to her performances in the pop success of her first hit, and her persona would be established as a risk taker—mixing the jazz singer and singer/songwriter genres in a time when it had not been done. Jones met Tom Waits at The Troubadour, where they hang out on the sidewalk and sang. During the mid-1970s, Jones also met her long-time collaborator Sal Bernardi, who inspired her 'Weasle and the White Boys' as well as future collaborator Dr. John, sent by legendary jazz producer Tommy La Puma, who would eventually produce the two of them singing "Makin' Whoopee" and win them both Grammys for best jazz duet. Tom Waits, the lover and eccentric singer songwriter who already had released three records by the time she debuted, was with her as she toured Europe and America in the summer of 1979. They moved in together into a house in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles in August, and then moved out in September. Sometime in November 1979, Francis Ford Coppola asked Rickie Lee to collaborate with Waits on his upcoming film 'One from the Heart,' she balked, citing the recent break up of the legendary couple. Francis told her it would only fuel the music. She refused. Fate stepped in, and Waits met his future wife, a secretary at Zoetrope, that same month, and Jones and Waits never spoke to each other again.

Early success: 1978–82

By 1977, Jones was performing original material at the Ala Carte club in Hollywood with Alfred Johnson, with whom she had composed "Weasel and the White Boys Cool" and "Company". Jones' success on the club scene soon translated into songwriting kudos, when her friend Ivan Ulz introduced Lowell George of Little Feat to Jones' composition "Easy Money" by singing it to him over the telephone. George included the song on his album Thanks, I'll Eat it Here in 1978. It would be the only single for George's first solo, and final record. His death was recorded on the same Rolling Stone cover featuring Rickie Lee Jones crouching in a black bra and white beret - an issue that would become the largest selling issue in the magazine's history up to that time. Her appearance - as an unknown (her debut record had been released less than a month before) - on the popular and prestigious Saturday Night Live television show in April 1979 sparked an overnight sensation. She performed "Chuck E's in Love" and "Coolsville".

A four-song demo of material was circulated around the L.A. music scene in 1978, with Emmylou Harris later recalling that she had heard an early version of "The Last Chance Texaco" on the demo tape. The recordings came to the attention of Lenny Waronker, producer and executive at Warner Bros. Records. Jones was signed to the label, and work commenced on her debut album, co-produced by Waronker and Russ Titelman. Jones was courted by the major labels, and chose Waronker because of his work with Randy Newman, and because, she said, she had a vision of standing in his office the moment she saw his name on the back of Newman's Sail Away album.

Rickie Lee Jones was released in March 1979 and became a hit, buoyed by the success of the jazz-flavored single "Chuck E.'s in Love" (#4 Billboard Hot 100, 1979) and its accompanying video. The album, which included guest appearances by Dr. John, Randy Newman, and Michael McDonald, went to US #3 on the Billboard 200 and produced another US Top 40 hit with "Young Blood" (#40) in late 1979.

Following a successful world tour, the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Jones secured five nominations at the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, Song of the Year ("Chuck E.'s in Love"), and Best New Artist, which she won at the January 1980 ceremony. She was also voted Best Jazz Singer by Playboy magazine's critic and reader polls. Jones was covered by Time magazine on her very first professional show, in Boston, and they dubbed her "The Duchess of Coolsville."

After moving to New York City, Jones spent the majority of 1981 working on a follow-up album, written and recorded partly in reaction to the break-up of her relationship with Tom Waits sometime between late 1979 and early 1980. The songs were written between September 1979 and June 1981 - when the last lyrics to "Traces of the Western Slope" and the last bass on "A Lucky Guy" were put down. The recording sessions finally yielded Pirates in July 1981.

Rolling Stone remained fervent supporters of Jones, with a second cover feature in 1981; the magazine also included a glowing five-star assessment of Pirates , which became a commercially successful follow-up by reaching US #5 on the Billboard 200. A single, "A Lucky Guy", became the only Billboard Hot 100 hit from the album, peaking at #64, but "Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)" and "Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking" became minor Top 40 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. More importantly, historically, is the fact that in America "Woody and Dutch..." became a kind of commercial mainstay. The finger snaps and jive talk beat were imitated in advertisements for McDonald's, Dr. Pepper, and others.

Another lengthy and successful tour into 1982 followed, before Jones moved back to California, settling in San Francisco. A partial tour memento, the EP Girl at Her Volcano , was issued originally as a 10" record in 1983, featuring a mix of live and studio cover versions of jazz and pop standards, as well as one Jones original, "Hey, Bub" which had been recorded for Pirates . Jones then relocated to Paris.

Period of transition: 1983–89

The remainder of the 1980s found Jones falling out of favor commercially and pursuing a more complex and experimental sound.

Jones settled in France and recorded new material, some of which was released on her third full-length solo album, The Magazine , in September 1984. The Magazine found Jones combining the melodic, jazz-inspired sound of her debut with the complex structures of Pirates , with a more synth-driven sound, owed to working closely with composer James Newton Howard on the album. Alongside the more commercially appealing material, Jones included a three-song suite, subtitled "Rorschachs", exploring multi-tracked vocals and synth patterns. Only the upbeat "The Real End" made it into the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984, peaking at #82.

She began to pursue jazz standards, recording "The Moon Is Made of Gold" and "Autumn Leaves" for Rob Wasserman's album Duets in 1985. Jones took a four-year break from her recording schedule, largely attributed to the deaths of her mentor Bob Regher and her father, Richard Loris Jones that same year.

Jones returned to the United States in 1987 after a tour of Israel and Norway, and the impending birth of her daughter brought her home to California. In September 1988, work began on her fourth solo album following another Grammy nomination for her Wasserman collaboration "Autumn Leaves". With songs dating from the mid-1980s, Jones teamed up with Steely Dan's Walter Becker to craft Flying Cowboys, which was released on the Geffen Records label in September 1989. Jones also included some writing collaborations with her husband Pascal Nabet Meyer. "The Horses", co-written with Becker, was featured in the movie Jerry Maguire and became an Australian #1 hit single for Daryl Braithwaite in 1991. The album made the U.S. Top 40, reaching #39 on the Billboard 200, with the college radio hit "Satellites" making it to #23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Jones ended the decade on a high note with her duet with Dr. John, a cover of "Makin' Whoopee", winning her second Grammy Award, this time in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Collaboration.

Experimentation and change: 1990–2001

Following a tour with Lyle Lovett, Jones enlisted David Was to helm her idiosyncratic album of covers, Pop Pop , ranging from jazz and blues standards to Tin Pan Alley to Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies". The album, released in September 1991, was a hit on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums (#8, 1991), but became her least commercially successful record yet, reaching #121 on the Billboard 200.

Soon after, The Orb issued "Little Fluffy Clouds", featuring a sampled Jones interview. However, Jones objected to the unauthorized use of her voice and pursued the issue in the legal system. In 1992 she toured extensively with Rob Wasserman, with whom she had collaborated in the mid-1980s.

Her swan song for Geffen Records was Traffic From Paradise , released in September 1993. The album was slightly more successful than its predecessor, reaching #111 on the Billboard 200, and was notable for its collaboration with Leo Kottke, its musical diversity, and a cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel", which was slated to be the title track for the Oscar-winning film Boys Don't Cry , when Bowie's publishing pulled the plug by asking for too much money from the little independent movie.

A number of television and movies had licensed her work in these years, including Thirtysomething, Frankie and Johnny , When a Man Loves a Woman , Jerry Maguire , Friends with Money and the French film Subway . Jones sang a duet with Lyle Lovett on "North Dakota" for his Joshua Judges Ruth CD.

Jones' first solo shows in 1994 paved the way for her "unplugged" acoustic album Naked Songs , released in September 1995 through a one-off deal with Reprise Records. The album, which reached U.S. #121 on the Billboard 200, featured acoustic re-workings of Jones classics and album material, but no new songs.

Emphasizing her experimentation and change, Jones embraced electronic music for Ghostyhead , released on Warner Bros. Records in June 1997. The album, a collaboration with Rick Boston (both are credited with production and with twenty-one instruments in common), found Jones employing beats, loops, and electronic rhythms, and also showcased Jones' connection with the trip-hop movement of the mid-to-late 1990s. Despite some positive reviews, it did not meet with commercial success, peaking at U.S. #159 on the Billboard 200. There are critics who consider this her best record, and who believe that it had large impact on electronic singer-songwriter music that would emerge 10 years later.

1990 - 1996 seemed to be Jones' lowest professional ebb. Everything she recorded was met with extreme skepticism and even harsh criticism. Her live shows, on the other hand, were lauded as a return to form. She had not really been on a stage in America (at least the eastern half) in eight years when she toured for Flying Cowboys .

Jones' second album of cover versions, It's Like This , was released on the independent record label Artemis Records in September 2000. The album included cover versions of material by artists including The Beatles, Steely Dan, Marvin Gaye, and the Gershwin brothers. The album made it onto three Billboard charts — #148 on the Billboard 200, #10 on Top Internet Albums, and #42 on Top Independent Albums. The album also secured Jones another Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

After starting up her official website, Artemis issued an archival Jones release, Live at Red Rocks , in November 2001, featuring material recorded during the Flying Cowboys era tour of 1989-1990, including a Lyle Lovett duet.

Artistic renaissance: 2002 and beyond

After Ghostyhead , Jones largely retired from public view and admitted that she had battled writers' block. She spent much of her time at her home in Olympia, Washington, tending her garden and bringing up her now-teenage daughter Charlotte.

Released on the independent V2 in October 2003, The Evening Of My Best Day featured influences from jazz, Celtic folk, blues, R&B, rock, and gospel, and spawned a successful and lengthy spurt of touring. The album peaked at US #189 on the Billboard 200. The CD helped to swing her career away from an apparent middle-of the-road perception, a posture she seemed furiously bent on avoiding. She invited punk bass icon Mike Watt (the Minutemen, Iggy Pop) to perform on "It Takes You There", while "Ugly Man" was a direct aim at the George Bush 'regime' evoking, with an anthem-like Hugh Masakala arrangement, what she termed 'the Black Panther horns', and calling for 'revolution, everywhere that you're not looking, revolution.'

Renewed interest in Jones led to the three-disc anthology Duchess of Coolsville: An Anthology , released through reissue specialists Rhino in June 2005. A lavish package, the alphabetically-arranged release featured album songs, live material, covers, and demos, and featured essays by Jones as well as various collaborators, as well as tributes from artists including Randy Newman, Walter Becker, Quincy Jones, and Tori Amos.

Also in 2005, Jones was invited to take part in her boyfriend and collaborator Lee Cantelon's music version of his book The Words , a book of the words of Christ, set into simple chapters and themes. Cantelon's idea was to have various artists recite the text over primal rock music, but Jones elected to try something that had never been done, to improvise her own impression of the texts, melody and lyric, in stream of consciousness sessions, rather than read Jesus' words. The sessions were recorded at an artist's loft on Exposition Boulevard in Culver City. When Cantelon could no longer finish the project, Jones picked it up as her own record and hired Rob Schnaf to finish the production at Sunset Sound in 2007, and the result was the The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard , released on the independent New West Records in February 2006. It included "Circle in the Sand," recorded for the soundtrack to the film Friends With Money (2006), for which Jones also cut "Hillbilly Song." ' 'The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard'' debuted at #158 on the Billboard 200 and #12 on the Top Independent Albums tally. Writer Ann Powers included this on her list of Grammy-worthy CDs for 2007.

Other work

In 2001, during the election of GW Bush, Jones was the organizer of the web community "Furniture for the People", which is involved in gardening, social activism, bootleg exchange and left wing politics. She has produced records (including Leo Kottke's Peculiaroso ), and provided a voiceover for Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, in which she played the Blue Fairy (Known as the Good Fairy or Fairy Godmother in the film). Jones also enjoys gardening.

Discography

Albums

• Rickie Lee Jones - (1979) U.S. #3, UK #18
• Pirates - (1981) U.S. #5, UK #37
• Girl at Her Volcano (EP) - (1983) U.S. #39, UK #51
• The Magazine - (1984) U.S. #44, UK #40
• Flying Cowboys - (1989) U.S. #39, UK #50
• Pop Pop - (1991) U.S. #121
• Traffic From Paradise - (1993) U.S. #111
• Naked Songs - Live And Acoustic - (1995) U.S. #121
• Ghostyhead - (1997) U.S. #159
• It's Like This - (2000) U.S. #148
• Live at Red Rocks - (2001)
• The Evening of My Best Day - (2003) U.S. #189
• Rickie Lee Jones: Duchess of Coolsville - (2005)
• The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard - February 2007 U.S. #158
• Balm in Gilead - October 2009

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
		U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Modern Rock	U.S. Mainstream Rock	UK Singles Chart [1]
1979	"Chuck E.'s in Love"	4	-	-	18	Rickie Lee Jones
	"Youngblood"	40	-	-	-
1981	"A Lucky Guy"	64	-	-	-	Pirates
	"Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)"	-	-	40	-
	"Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking"	-	-	31	-
1984	"The Real End"	82	-	-	-	The Magazine
1989	"Satellites"	-	23	-	-	Flying Cowboys

Other contributions

• WFUV: City Folk Live VII (2004) - "Mink Coat at the Bus Stop"

Sample

Audio samples of Rickie Lee Jones

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References

1. British Hit Singles & Albums