Ronald Hugo Jones (born September 14, 1937,

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

, United States) is an Italy-based, American-born R&B,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

singer.

Musical career

Jones first came to Europe with the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. He started his career in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where he joined the first incarnation of the

Blues Incorporated Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, or simply Blues Incorporated, were an English blues band formed in London in 1961, led by Alexis Korner and including at various times Jack Bruce, Charlie Watts, Terry Cox, Davy Graham, Ginger Baker, Art Woo ...

with

Alexis Korner Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major in ...

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disbande ...

, Cyril Davis, Johnny Parker and

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

. He later formed a band called The Nightimers with

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

, before moving to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to join the cast of the local production of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

''. He then performed with artists such as

Claudja Barry Claudja Barry (born in 1952) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and actress. Her successful songs were " Down and Counting", "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes" (which peaked at #56 on Billboard Hot 100 on June 9, 1979), "Dancing Fever", and others. As ...

and Cooper Terry, and had a hit in the Italian charts with ''Funky Bump'' (Atlantic, 1976). In the 1970s and the 1980s Jones worked as a musician, DJ and TV host at

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

and

Radio 105 Network Radio 105 is an Italian private radio station, owned by Mediaset, who also owns Virgin Radio Italia and Radio Monte Carlo. It was founded on 1976 as ''Radio Studio 105''. External links Radio 105 Network Official Website Radio 105 Networkon Y ...

. From 1980 to 1985 he hosted the TV show ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

''. The theme, "Video Games", charted #28 on the Italian hit parade. In 1988 he wrote the song ''Bambino Io, Bambino Tu'' for

Zucchero Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

.Billboard - 6 Oct. 1979 "material recorded by singer Ronnie Jones is included in the deal" Jones has been residing in Italy since 1979 and tours regularly with his band, The Soul Syndicate.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

1937 births Living people American blues singers English-language singers from Italy American expatriates in the United Kingdom American expatriates in Italy American expatriate musicians 20th-century African-American male singers American male singers American disco musicians Italian blues musicians American emigrants to Italy Blues Incorporated members 21st-century African-American people {{Italy-singer-stub