Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A two-time Grammy Award winner (from eight nominations), Jones was listed at No. 30 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1999. AllMusic stated: "Few singer/songwriters are as individual and eclectic as Rickie Lee Jones, a vocalist with an expressive and smoky instrument, and a composer who can weave jazz, folk, and R&B into songs with a distinct pop sensibility."

She released her self-titled debut album in 1979, to critical and commercial success. It peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and spawned the hit single "Chuck E.'s in Love", which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went platinum later that year, and earned Jones four Grammy Award nominations in 1980, including Best New Artist, which she won. Her second album, Pirates, followed in 1981 to further critical and commercial success; it peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, went gold, and ranked No. 49 on NPR's list of the 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women in 2017.

Her third album, The Magazine, appeared in 1984 before Jones took a brief hiatus from recording. Her fourth album, Flying Cowboys, was released in 1989 and later went gold. Jones won her second Grammy Award in 1990 for "Makin' Whoopee", a duet with Dr. John, this time in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. Jones' seventh Grammy Award nomination followed in 2001 in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her album It's Like This (2000). Jones released her memoir, Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour, in 2021. Her 15th studio album, Pieces of Treasure, was released in 2023 and earned Jones her eighth Grammy Award nomination, for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Jones was born the third of four children to Richard and Bettye Jones, on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, on November 8, 1954. She was named after her father, who was a singer, songwriter, painter, and trumpet player. Her mother, Bettye, was raised in orphanages around Mansfield, Ohio. She has a brother, Daniel, and two sisters, Janet Adele and Pamela Jo. Her paternal grandfather, Frank "Peg Leg" Jones, and her grandmother, Myrtle Lee, were vaudevillians based in Chicago. A singer, dancer, and comedian, Peg Leg Jones's routine consisted of singing and accompanying himself on ukulele, soft shoe dance, acrobatics, and comedy.

At the age of 21, Jones began singing traditional jazz and original compositions in bars and coffee houses in Venice, California. There she met Alfred Johnson, a piano player and songwriter, with whom she wrote "Weasel and the White Boys Cool", and "Company", which would later appear on Jones's debut album. In 1977, Jones met Tom Waits at The Troubadour. They dated for about two years, before splitting in 1979.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.