(Strong and sober, George Jones looks back on his life wit...)
Strong and sober, George Jones looks back on his life with searing candor. From his roots in an impoverished East Texas family to his years of womanizing, boozing, brawling, and singing with the voice that made him a star, his story is a nonstop rollercoaster ride of the price of fame. It is also the story of how the love of a good woman, his wife Nancy, helped him clean up his act.
George Glenn Jones was an American musician, singer and songwriter. In 1959, he recorded "White Lightning," written by J. P. Richardson, which launched his career as a singer.
Background
Jones, George was born on September 12, 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, into the family of George Washington and Clara Jones. Jones first heard country music when he was seven and was given a guitar at the age of nine. He was raised in Colmesneil, Texas, with his brother and five sisters.
Career
George ran away from home at age fourteen, earning a living playing backup for radio shows. He sang and played on the KTXJ radio station with fellow musician Dalton Henderson. From there, he worked at the KRIC radio station. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, Jones painted houses and began playing country shows locally. In 1955 he recorded the singles “Why Baby Why” and “You Gotta Be My Baby,” his first popular hits. More soon followed. During the 1960s Jones toured almost nonstop, recorded prolifically, and saw a different one of his songs reach the country music top ten each year.
One aspect of Jones' early career that is often overlooked is his success as a songwriter; he wrote or co-wrote many of his biggest hits during this period, several of which have become standards, like "Window Up Above" and "Seasons of My Heart."
In a career that has spanned more than three decades, Jones has played to adoring fans, “recorded so many albums and singles that even he has lost count.” In 1990, Jones released his last proper studio album on "Epic, You Oughta Be Here With Me." On February 17, 1998, The Nashville Network premiered a group of television specials called "The George Jones Show", with Jones as host.
In 1996 Jones’s autobiography, "I Lived to Tell It All", was published. Jones wrote the book with ghostwriter Tom Carter, who had also written books with Reba McEntire and Ralph Emery.
(Strong and sober, George Jones looks back on his life wit...)
1997
Religion
George Glenn Jones was raised Penecostal.
Personality
Jones was notorious in the country music business for his drinking, hard living, and frequently raucous behavior. He earned the reputation of a brawler, and he often performed while intoxicated by drugs or alcohol - or stood up audiences altogether. Also Jones often displayed a sheepish, self-deprecating sense of humor regarding his dire financial standing and bad reputation.
Quotes from others about the person
For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved.
If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones. He was one of the finest interpretive singers who ever lifted a microphone...There cannot be a single country songwriter of the last 50-odd years who has not wondered what it might be like to hear their words sung by that voice.
Connections
George married his first wife, Dorothy Bonvillion, in 1950, and was divorced in 1951. Then he married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954. His second marriage ended in divorce in 1968, and he married fellow country music singer Tammy Wynette a year later. After his divorce from Wynette in 1975, Jones married his fourth wife, Nancy Sepulvado, in 1983. He had a daughter Susan from his first marriage, sons Jeffrey and Brian from the second one, a daughter Tamala Georgette from his third wife, and also two stepchildren, Adina and Sherry.