Jones began his musical career in the 1970s, with his first notable recording session taking place at Toronto Sound Studio, under the mentorship of producer Terry Brown. During this time, Jones honed his skills, not only in music production but also in the art of making a perfect cup of tea. His talent soon caught the attention of major music publishers, leading to signing contracts as a singer-songwriter with CBS Songs and ATV Music.
1978 marked a pivotal year for Jones as he joined CBS Canada's pop group, Bond. As a versatile musician handling keyboards, guitar, and vocals, he contributed to Bond's final recording, "I Can't Help It." Following this, he embarked on tours with several bands, including the rock cover band FUNN—featuring Dee Long and Terry Draper of Klaatu—the show band Canada, and Gary O's Kid Rainbow.
In 1979, Jones formed a notable partnership with Dee Long of Klaatu, beginning a 15-year musical and business collaboration. This partnership would shape much of his future endeavors in the music industry.
Jones performed on piano at the LSO Summer Pops '87 at Barbican Hall, with Martin and he wrote the MIDI chapter in Martin's book; Making Music, and appeared in a segment of BBC's Science In Action, filmed at AIR Studios, in Studio 5. [citation needed]
Jones and Long also worked on the development of the Akai S1000 sampler, producing one of the first Sample CD's, The AIR Sessions, which developed into the original sound library for the S1000 sampler.[citation needed]
Jones began working with Duran Duran at AIR Studios,[1] where he produced the B side single, "This Is How A Road Gets Made", and programmed sampled sounds for their Big Thing tour. Soon after, he was working full time on their Liberty album, with producer Chris Kimsey, at Olympic Studio in Barnes.[citation needed]
During the Liberty sessions, Jones co-produced the promotional single, "Burning the Ground", which was made up of samples of Duran Duran songs, from their Decade: Greatest Hits album release.[2]
1990s
In 1990, Jones created samples for John Cale for the album Songs for Drella. He worked again with Chris Kimsey on Paul Rodgers's Laying Down the Law, and on the Rolling Stones' Flashpoint (album), where he edited live tracks and created the intro piece, "Continental Drift." [citation needed]
Jones' next co-production with Duran Duran was their Thank You album of cover songs, released in 1995, which was voted #1 of the 50 Worst Albums Ever! by Q magazine in 2006.[4]
In 1996, Jones wrote and produced tracks for Dan Hill's I'm Doing Fine, spawning the top 10 song Wrapped and "These Strange Times" on Fleetwood Mac's Time, featuring Mick Fleetwood on lead vocal, as well as producing, engineering and performing on Dan Hill's song, Seduces Me, for Celine Dion.
John Jones was awarded the 1997 Grammy Awards for Album Of The Year (Producer)[citation needed], Album Of The Year (Engineer) and Pop Album Of The Year (Producer), 'Pop Album Of The Year (Engineer) for producing Celine Dion's Seduces Me, from the multi-platinum CD, Falling Into You.
During 1998, Jones composed scores for the award winning film [citation needed], Stuart Bliss, as well as Lucky Lawson and Ipola (composed with Steve Ferrone).
Jones released his first solo album of his own material called One Moment in Time in 1998. The album garnered three MP3.com Pop Chart number ones for the singles State Of Mind and Turning Me inside Out.[citation needed]
2000s
Jones' solo album: One Moment in Time, was re-released by Victor Entertainment in Japan in late 2001, to coincide with a Kirin Beer advertising campaign, for which Jones sang the lead vocal on the song, I'll Be There, recorded for Simon Le Bon's Japanese music company, Syn Entertainment. [citation needed]
In 2003, Jones and drummer, Steve Ferrone, founded Drumroll Musicians Workshop studio in Burbank, California. They were joined by guitarist and producer, Steve Postell, working on productions and sessions including Ferrone's Farm Fur, Keb' Mo', Emily Richards, Edgar Winter, Jeff Golub, Sabian, Dean & Robert Deleo, Alex Ligertwood, and Brian Auger. During this time, Ferrone and Jones composed the score for the film, Puzzle. [citation needed]
2007 was the start of Jones' collaboration with Richard Martinez and Meninos do Morumbi, the Brazilian school and social program for favela children, founded by Flavio Pimenta, for the Music is Hope Foundation. [citation needed]
In November 2009, Jones released his second solo album, Black N White, with drums by Steve Ferrone. [citation needed]
Jones produced the 2015 album Meninos Do Morumbi & Friends. In 2018, Jones co-produced the Joey Niceforo orchestral pop album: Priceless, with Steve Sidwell and Sam Reid. This album was recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios by the engineer Steve Price and conducted by Sidwell. Jones also produced Terry McDermott's U.K. single "Lost Again" and album, Beautiful Destruction. [citation needed]