Tarsha Nicole Jones (born October 24, 1969), better known as Miss Jones, is a former R&B artist and radio personality. She previously worked for

WQHT WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared service ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and 103.9 The Beat and

WUSL WUSL (98.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It carries a mainstream urban radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The radio studio, ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Miss Jones was the first black woman to host Morning Radio on a hip hop radio format.

Early life

Jones graduated with honors from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, having majored in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

. She also has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in music from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. After graduating from college, she worked several jobs until her chance meeting of Doug E. Fresh in front of Men's Walkers shoe store on 125th st where she was signed on the spot after an impromptu audition.

Career

Radio

Before becoming host of WQHT's ''Miss Jones in the Morning'' show, Jones was a Tommy Boy and Motown records recording artist. Having appeared alongside several Hip Hop icons, Jones achieved gold and multi-platinum recording success. Jones also acted in several movies such as Paper Soldiers, Corrupt, The Wrecking Crew and the RocAfella Records inspired film, Death of a Dynasty. Miss Jones was an integral part of the ''

Star and Buc Wild A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

'' morning show on Hot 97. She wrote a Best selling autobiography, ''Have You Met Miss Jones?: The Life and Loves of Radio's Most Controversial Diva'', in 2007, published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. On June 28, 2008, WQHT's contract with Jones expired, and she returned to the airwaves of Philadelphia, a city that adorned Jones with the Key to the City and several mayoral awards for her community service endeavors. In January 2012 Jones developed and launched Jonesyradio.com, but due to the perils of Hurricane Sandy the broadcast was short lived. Beginning August 22, 2022, Jones will host mornings at classic hip-hop "94.7 The Block"

WXBK WXBK (94.7 FM, "94.7 The Block") is a classic hip hop-formatted radio station that is licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serves the New York City area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. WXBK’s studios are located in the combined Audacy faci ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

. Delgado was fired from the radio station, along with Todd Lynn who made "offensive racial comments" on the air. Jones was suspended for her heated on-air response to Miss Info, a Korean-American, who voiced her disapproval of the song.

Bibliography

* Jones, Tarsha. ''Have You Met Miss Jones?: The Life and Loves of Radio's Most Controversial Diva''. New York: Random House: 2007. .

Discography

Albums

Singles

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Miss 20th-century African-American women singers African-American radio personalities American contemporary R&B singers Singers from New York City Syracuse University alumni 1969 births Living people Race-related controversies in radio 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women