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Donell Jones, or Mr. Serious if we can give that nickname to him, is one of the most popular artists and singers of our age. This man went through a lot in his life, which is probably the reason why you can’t see him smiling so often.
Coming from a family of musicians, Donell caressed his talent, and achieved fame thanks to gift and lessons learned while still being a kid.
Even though he was involved in a couple of criminal acts, Donell still found his way.
Today, he is producing and writing his own music and is hella successful. We will talk more about his childhood, very beginning of his career, as well as his personal and professional development, and personal life.
Early Years
Donell Jones was born on May 22, 1973, in Chicago, which means he is 46 years now. He grew up in a family of musicians, and this explains his talent and passion for music and creating as well.
It was Donell’s father who was his biggest inspiration. His name was Ray.
Ray was a gospel vocalist with magnificent energy who taught Donell how to do best what he does now – sing.
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As the years went on, Donell got trapped in the gang culture when he was 14 years old.
His mother was full of understanding, but she wanted to help her son get out of the bad company.
Searching for a way to make Donell understand he is not on the good track, his mother decided to buy him an electric guitar. Actually, she did this with the desire to help him realize his biggest passion is music.
Mother’s instinct never goes wrong, as Donell truly tried to keep himself off the streets. At the age of 16, Donell made up his mind about being a singer.
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What actually made him think more in this way are his girlfriends from high school who were asking him to sing them songs all the time.
The girls were amazed by Donell’s talent, as he got the talent to perform any song just the way an original artist would do. He was changing his voice when needed.
Donell was trying to make some money by working at McDonald’s. In order to make time pass quicker, Donell used to sang while being at work.
One day, one of his managers asked him whether he would like to be a part of his group, as he was putting together one at that time.
Donell accepted the invitation, they formed a group and everything begun from that moment on.
Career Development
Donell’s career begun back in the ‘90s, when he met Eddie Ferrell, or “Eddie F” if you know this name better. In that time, Eddie was already a former member of Heavy D & The Boyz, which was a hip-hop group formed in the 90s as well.
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At the current period, Eddie was the president of Untouchable Entertainment and offered Donell a collaboration.
Donell and Eddie agreed upon forming LaFace Records. Yet, Jones’s talent was coming out more and more, as he felt he would be good at writing and composing.
In 1994, Donell wrote one of the biggest Usher’s hits – “Think of You”, which opened new doors for Jones.
What is more, Babyface and L.A. Ried recognized something special about young Donell and decided to support him in pursuing a solo career.
Shortly after getting the green light for his project, Donell Jones released his first album under the title “My Heart”. His debut album achieved great fame almost instantly. It went up on the 30th place of the Billboard Hip-Hop and R’n’B album charts.
This brought Donell even more popularity, as it was clear to the world this guy has amazing songwriting abilities.
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The album was followed by the songs “Not Gonna Letcha” and “Get It Together” by 702 and Drea.
After taking a short pause, Donell decided to remind the audience of his music, and released a worldwide hit “Where I Wanna Be”.
This track is sold in more than a million copies – which was a massive success back then. Then it comes “U Know What’s Up”, another amazing Donell’s song.
“Left Eye” is a song which brought Donell an American Music Award for Best New R&B artist.
Once Donell saw he had the chance to prove himself, even more, he decided to come out with his third album under the title “Life Goes On”.
He was right about this one, as his third album went gold and reached the third position on the Billboard. However, it seemed Jones needed a break once again.
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He likes to pull back a bit, and then come out of nowhere with some great tracks. From 2000 to 2006, he was pretty much missing.
Donell returned to the scene in 2006 when “Journey of Gemini” was published.
As it was the case with his tracks and albums before, this one touched the top lists when it comes to R&B and Hip-Hop music.
“Journey of Gemini” reached No. 15 on the Billboard and stayed there for quiet times. The next year, in 2007, Donell Jones decided to release a hits compilation.
In 2007, he also decided to part ways with LaFace, as he was not feeling the connection anymore. The first thing he released in 2009 after appearing as a solo player was a collection of his unreleased songs – “The Lost Files”. Then, he got an offer by eOne Music, one of the independent labels.
“Lyrics” from 2010 and “Forever” from 2013 were products of their collaboration.
Jones got the chance to work on these albums almost entirely by himself, as he wrote lyrics and produced almost all of the tracks.
Donell released 7 albums, and his last one was dedicated to his mother.
“A Mother’s Love” was inspired by the love Jones’ mother gave him, especially when he was a kid.
As his parents divorced, and he stayed with his mom, Donell was fully aware of how tough it was to be a single parent. Even though Ray (Donell’s dad) was around, he spent a lot more time with his mother.
As they had some rough periods, watching his mom work so hard was heartbreaking for Donell.
Because he felt so grateful for all of her efforts and love, Donell decided to put all of his emotions in a song.
The lead single for his seventh album was single “Forever”, and Jones related to number 22 to this song. Actually, he and his girlfriend was reading on meaning and numbers symbolism and decided to put number 22 somewhere in the song.
As number 22 signified life path, Donell inserted number 22 in the song with the idea to tell his girlfriend she was his life path.
Donell has his own label, CandyMan Music, and the thing is growing tremendously. Now, he is in a position where he can start exploring some talents for example.
Jones is aware of how hard it was for him to make something out of his career, which is the main reason why he would like to help some young artists achieve their dreams.
Besides, he has plans for producing and songwriting again, and we can’t wait for his upcoming songs.
Not so long ago, Donell decided to reconnect with DJ Eddie F we already mentioned through the text, as he was the man who discovered Jones. You already know this is a win-win combination, right?
The two are putting out some great, quality material, so stay tuned.
Donell Jones is immensely popular and is performing all around the United States, but travels often as well.
Personal Life
Donell is happily married and has five daughters. He posted pictures of them together on his Instagram profile wishing all his daughters a happy birthday.
The youngest of them is Asia, and she is 11, the older one is Shakia (19), the third one is Tatiana (23), Danielle (26) while the oldest Donell’s daughter is Keyana, and she is 27.
What is more, Donell became a young granddad and has three grandchildren until now.
Just as we mentioned in the second chapter of our article, Donell was hanging out with gangs while he was a teenager.
However, as time went on, he re-established a connection with some old friends and got into trouble.
He was accused of menacing, criminal possession of weapons, assault, unauthorized use of vehicles, etc.
Brooklyn Court arraigned him because of the above-mentioned acts. Additionally, Donell Jones was accused of carjacking Travis Ingram with two of his friends – Rock Bunce and Spencer Jackson, who were supposed to be his accomplices. All of them were arraigned by the Court.
In one of his statement, Travis Ingram, who was a limo driver back then, confirmed Donell, Rock, and Spencer beat on him.
The reason for this was Travis’s refusing to drive them to Manhattan, where they had plans on purchasing some drugs.
Talking about music again, Donell found his inspiration in songs by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers, etc.
Donell truly shares a special connection with Michael Jackson’s music, and he even released The King of Pop as a tribute to Michael.
He claims Michael is the person who made him did music, as he was an extraordinary human – artist, humanitarian, performer.
Even though Donell sings about intimacy and sex in a couple of his songs, he is aware of the fact only things involving love are the one we should do.
Their songs help him clear his mind as well but are also giving him some great ideas about new songs he is about to release. Among today’s artist, Donell would love to work with Drake.
It would be great if these made a record of two, as their talent is huge and their styles are similar.
Donell is generally a very private person and he says about himself he is an introvert. You wouldn’t believe Donell is shy and a pretty modest guy.
He has two cars, of which his wife drivers one. We can say Donell is a down to earth guy.
Quick Summary
Full Name: Donell Jones
Date of Birth: May 22, 1973
Birthplace: Chicago
Age: 46
Profession: Singer and Songwriter
Height: 1.82m
Weight: 85kg
Net Worth: $ 500, 000
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