"Manfred Mann" Paul Jones Signed 4X6 Card

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Up for auction
"Manfred Mann" Paul Jones  Hand Signed 4X6 Card
ES-8541E
Paul Jones
(born
Paul Pond
, 24 February 1942) is an English singer, actor, harmonicist, radio personality and television presenter. He first came to prominence as the lead singer and
harmonicist
of the successful 1960s group
Manfred Mann
, with whom he had several Top Ten
hit records
from 1962 to 1966. He presented
The Blues Show
on
BBC Radio 2
for thirty-two years, from 1986 to 2018. Paul Jones was born as Paul Pond in
Portsmouth
,
Hampshire
. As "P.P. Jones" he performed duets with Elmo Lewis (better known as future founder member of
the Rolling Stones
,
Brian Jones
) at the
Ealing Club
, home of
Alexis Korner
's
Blues Incorporated
, whose singers included
Long John Baldry
and
Mick Jagger
. He was asked by
Keith Richards
and Brian Jones to be the lead singer of a group they were forming, but he turned them down. He went on to be the vocalist and harmonica player of the successful 1960s group
Manfred Mann
. Paul Jones had several
Top Ten
hits
with Manfred Mann, including the international number one single "
Do Wah Diddy Diddy
" (1964), before going solo in July 1966. He remained with
His Master's Voice
. He was less successful without the band than they were with his replacement,
Mike d'Abo
, but did have a few hits, notably with "High Time" (1966) (UK no. 4), "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy" (1967) (UK no. 5) and "Thinkin' Ain't for Me" (1967) (UK no. 32), before branching into acting. While his solo career in the UK was mildly successful, he sold few records in the United States. He had enough hits in
Sweden
to have a greatest hits album released there on
EMI
. His subsequent single releases in Britain in the late 1960s were on
Columbia
. His performance opposite model
Jean Shrimpton
in the 1967 film
Privilege
, directed by
Peter Watkins
, did not bring him stardom, although the film later became a cult classic. Jones was cast as a pop singer in the film, and sang the songs "I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy" and "Set Me Free", which
Patti Smith
covered
in the 1970s. The following year, he was the central figure in another cult classic, the 1968 experimental British satire,
The Committee
, directed by
Peter Sykes
, but this time the musical duties were handled by
Pink Floyd
and
Arthur Brown
. In 1971 Jones participated in
Carla Bley
's album
Escalator Over the Hill
. On the same year he recorded
Crucifix in a Horseshoe
with White Cloud, a New York-based
session
group featuring Teddy Wender on keyboards and
Kenny Kosek
on
fiddle
. He acted in the 1972 horror film
Demons of the Mind
. In 1973 Jones guest appeared in
ITC
The Protectors
, in an episode called "Goodbye George", playing a character called Caspar Parton. In 1975 he guest-starred in a TV episode of
The Sweeney
("Chalk and Cheese") as Tommy Garret, a boxer-turned-
highwayman
. In 1976 he performed the role of
Juan Peron
on the original concept album of
Tim Rice
and
Andrew Lloyd Webber
's musical
Evita
alongside
Julie Covington
as Eva,
Colm Wilkinson
as Che and
Barbara Dickson
as the Mistress. Jones had previously worked with Covington in the 1975 Christmas production
Great Big Groovy Horse
, a rock opera based on the story of the
Trojan Horse
shown on
BBC2
. It was later repeated on
BBC1
in 1977. He also presented the BBC1 children's quiz
Beat the Teacher
in the mid-1980s His
gold
albums include one for
Evita
. In October 1977, he starred as
Sir Francis Drake
in the musical premiere of
Drake's Dream
at the
Connaught Theatre
, Worthing featuring music and lyrics by Lynne and Richard Riley and book by
Simon Brett
. The production was directed by Nicolas Young and transferred to London's
Shaftesbury Theatre
for a limited season opening on 7 December 1977. The
Drake's Dream
Original London Cast Album was recorded by
President Records
in 1977 and released on CD in 2017 by
Stage Door Records
.
In 1978 he released a single on the
RSO
label, consisting of orchestrated versions of the
Sex Pistols
' "
Pretty Vacant
" and the
Ramones
' "
Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
", both produced by Rice. Four years later he appeared as one of the guest vocalists on the
British Electric Foundation
's
Music of Quality and Distinction
, on a new version of "
There's a Ghost in My House
". In 1979, he founded
The Blues Band
and is a member of
the Manfreds
, a group reuniting several original members of Manfred Mann, and has also played the harmonica as a
session musician
. In autumn 1982, Jones took over the lead part of Sky Masterson from
Ian Charleson
in
Richard Eyre
's company in his celebrated production for the
National Theatre
of
Guys and Dolls
that had begun in February that year at the
Olivier Theatre
. He then led the same cast as Macheath in Eyre's production of
The Beggar's Opera
by
John Gay
at the
Cottesloe Theatre
.
[
After an initial run of three programmes in 1985, he started presenting a series for
BBC Radio 2
on rhythm and blues on 10 April 1986, later to be known as
The Blues Show
, which became a fixture in the schedules for 32 years. He played the harmonica on his programme's Radio 2 jingle.
In 1987 he starred as Fred/Petruchio with
Nichola McAuliffe
as Lilli/Kate in the
Royal Shakespeare Company
's successful production of
Kiss Me Kate
both at the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
,
Stratford-upon-Avon
, and the
Old Vic Theatre
, London.
From 1990 to 1993, he starred as the title character of
Uncle Jack
, a children's programme on BBC 1, which also featured
Fenella Fielding
as Jack's adversary; The Vixen.
[
In 2009 he issued
Starting All Over Again
on Continental Record Services (aka CRS) in Europe and Collectors' Choice in the US. It was produced by
Carla Olson
in Los Angeles and features
Eric Clapton
,
Jake Andrews
,
Ernie Watts
,
Percy Sledge
, Alvino Bennett,
Tony Marsico
,
Michael Thompson
, Tom Morgan Jr.,
Oren Waters
and Luther Waters.