Jack Jones, the crooner who beguiled concert fans and stage, screen and television audiences for decades with romantic ballads and gentle jazz tunes that even in large venues often achieved the intimacy of his celebrated nightclub performances, died on Wednesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
He was 86, according to The NY Times. His wife, Eleonora Jones, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was leukemia.
While his popularity peaked in the 1960s, Mr. Jones found a new audience in later years singing the theme to the hit television show “The Love Boat.”
But even then he seemed always to have stepped out of an earlier generation, one that dressed in tuxedos for the songs of Tin Pan Alley and reminded America of its love affairs with the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.
He won two Grammy Awards and recorded numerous albums of American Songbook favorites that hit the upper reaches of Billboard’s charts on the strength of his smooth vocal interpretations. He performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and the London Palladium, and for more than 60 years drew crowds to cabarets and nightclubs around the world.
He recorded dozens of albums n the Kapp label, including “Dear Heart,” “Shall We Dance,” “She Loves Me,” “Call Me Irresponsible,” “I’ve Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do” and “The Jack Jones Christmas Album.” He won Grammy Awards for best solo male vocal performance for “Lollipops and Roses” in 1962 and “Wives and Lovers” in 1964.
Mr. Jones reached No. 1 on the Billboard easy listening chart with “The Impossible Dream” (1966) and “Lady” (1967). He was a staple on television variety shows hosted by Dinah Shore, Ed Sullivan, Andy Williams, Carol Burnett, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Judy Garland and Steve Allen. And millions more heard him when they tuned into “The Love Boat” on ABC from 1977 through 1985. (He was replaced by Dionne Warwick for the show’s last season.)
No comments:
Post a Comment