Gloria Jones

Gloria Richetta Jones, born October 19, 1945, in Cincinnati, Ohio, is an American singer, songwriter, and performer whose career has spanned gospel, rhythm and blues, Motown, glam rock, and musical theater. She moved to Los Angeles at age seven and began singing there as a child. At fourteen, while still in school, she co-founded the gospel group the COGIC Singers alongside Frankie Kahrl and Billy Preston, recording the album It's a Blessing with the group. She remained with the COGIC Singers for approximately four years before gravitating toward the Los Angeles pop scene.

Her professional recording career began in earnest in 1964, when songwriter and producer Ed Cobb discovered her and signed her to his Greengrass Productions. Cobb wrote and produced her first hit, "Heartbeat Pts 1 & 2," which Jones toured behind and performed on several American television programs. The song was later recorded by artists including Dusty Springfield and Spencer Davis. Jones subsequently recorded additional material for Uptown Records, a Capitol/EMI subsidiary, including another Cobb-written song, "Tainted Love," released in 1965. Her following in Northern England grew so substantial that she became known there as the Queen of Northern Soul. A full album for the Uptown label, Come Go with Me, followed in 1966. During this period Jones also pursued formal piano study, earning an advanced classical degree with a focus on the works of Bach.

In 1968, Jones joined the cast of Catch My Soul, a rock and soul adaptation of Othello featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, The Blossoms, and Dr. John. That same summer she performed in Revolution at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and that winter she joined the Los Angeles cast of Hair, the musical, which constitutes her Broadway-affiliated credit from 1968. It was through the Los Angeles production of Hair that she first encountered Marc Bolan of T. Rex in 1969.

Following her work in Hair, Jones was introduced to Pam Sawyer, who brought her into the Motown Records writing staff. Jones and Sawyer wrote for artists including Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Commodores, the Four Tops, and the Jackson 5. Because Jones was also a recording artist for the label, she used the pseudonym LaVerne Ware on some of her co-written credits. Among the songs she worked on were the Supremes' "Have I Lost You," Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross's "My Mistake (Was to Love You)," Junior Walker's "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere," and the Four Tops' "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)." The most recognized song from this period was Gladys Knight and the Pips' "If I Were Your Woman," which received a Grammy nomination in 1971. Jones also provided backing vocals on Ry Cooder's debut album in 1970. She departed Motown at the end of 1973 following the release of her album Share My Love.

Jones and Bolan met a second time at the Speakeasy in London while she was touring Europe, and in 1972 Warner Brothers' Bob Regehr recommended her to sing backing vocals for T. Rex at Winterland in San Francisco. She joined the band as a backing vocalist and clavinet player, contributing to their recordings from 1973 to 1977, with appearances on albums including Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow, Bolan's Zip Gun, and Dandy in the Underworld. A recording of her performing "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" appears as a bonus track on Bolan's Zip Gun. Jones and Bolan became romantically involved, and on September 26, 1975, their son Rolan Bolan was born. In 1976, Jones released the solo album Vixen, which Bolan produced and for which he wrote several songs.

In 1977, Jones worked with the group Gonzalez, producing singles and writing their disco track "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet." She toured the United Kingdom with Gonzalez, including dates on the Bob Marley tour and with Osibisa. On September 16, 1977, Jones was driving a Mini 1275 GT near Barnes Common at 4 a.m. when the car struck a tree. Bolan, who was not wearing a seat belt, was found unconscious in the passenger seat and was pronounced dead at the scene. Jones, who was wearing a seat belt, sustained a broken jaw and was hospitalized in London. Her brother Richard found her conscious but critically injured, with her foot trapped beneath the clutch. She was subsequently scheduled to appear in court on charges of being unfit to drive and driving in a dangerous condition, but she left the United Kingdom with her son before the court date, and the Coroner's Court recorded a verdict of accidental death. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she discovered that Bolan's fans had looted most of their possessions from the house.

In 1978, Jones released the album Windstorm, dedicated to Bolan's memory, and her single "Bring on the Love" charted on the American R&B chart. A 1981 album, Reunited, was produced by Ed Cobb, and in 1984 she reunited with Billy Preston and other former COGIC Singers for the album The COGIC's. She subsequently worked as a musical supervisor for films. In 2010, Jones and her son Rolan established the Marc Bolan School of Music and Film in Makeni, Sierra Leone.