Oran "Juice" Jones

Oran "Juice" Jones (born March 28, 1957) is a retired American R&B singer.

Early life

Jones was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Harlem, New York.

A graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy's class of 1981, he was the second African-American in its history to become a Brigade Commander. Joining the United States Marine Corps as an officer, he served as a sniper officer in the Corps till 1986. In that year, he sought his fortune in music and was discharged from the Corps.

Music Industry Career

Jones was the first musician signed to OBR Records, a subsidiary of Def Jam, and thus the very first R&B artist ever to sign to, much more record, for a record label oriented towards rap and/or hip hop at a time when rap and R&B were two so completely separate entities that it was then considered practically an insult to associate any rap artists with any genre remotely resembling R&B, whose "soothing" sounds clashed with hip hop's rebellious edge. Jones's signing with Def Jam's OBR subsidiary signaled a partnership between the two genres that continued as of early December of 2016.

His song "The Rain" became a hit in 1986, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. He followed it with "How to Love Again," a duet with labelmate Alyson Williams.

Jones earned two Grammy nominations for "The Rain" and released two more albums, but failed to have significant follow-up success. Two of his children, his son Oran II, who has also gone by Mookie, and his daughter Perri, have followed their father into the music business.

Discography

• Juice (1986)
• GTO: Gangsters Takin' Over (1987)
• To Be Immortal (1989)
• Player's Call (1997)

References

External links

• Oran "Juice" Jones at AllMusic
• Soulwalking page
• SoulInStereo.com's update page, "Whatever Happened To...," on Oran "Juice" Jones, contributed by Edward Bowser on November 19, 2013