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What have you been up to since the last album?
Donell
Jones-Basically,
just writing. Continue to write, just write, write and
write.
Speaking of writing, your history of songwriting actually
goes back to the early 90's. Can you share with some of
the site visitors how you got into the industry?
Donell
Jones-I
got into the industry about 93. I was in Washington D.C.
at the B.R.E. conference. I had a showcase but nobody
came to the showcase so what I did was I went outside
and started singing for everybody that came out of there.
Eddie F. happened to be one of the people. Eddie F, if
you guys don't know who that is is Heavy D's DJ Eddie
Farrell. He said he liked what he heard and he wanted
to sign me. I didn't believe him so I kept singing and
he came back to me and was like, "No, I really want to
sign you." About a month later he sent for me to come
to New York and that's how I got into the business.
Are you still based in Chicago?
Donell
Jones-No,
actually I'm in Atlanta now.
Since people always have that in all of the interviews
I thought I would ask (regarding the Chicago question).
Do you still write songs for other artists?
Donell
Jones-Recently,
I haven't, but I'm about to get back into that. I really
wanted to focus on this album I have coming out Journey
of a Gemini and now that I'm done I can definitely
start doing that.
Do you think for an R&B song to be played on the radio
today it has to have a featured rapper on the song?
Donell
Jones-To
be honest I really do. Yeah. If you want to get some crossover
appeal you have to have some kind of MC on it.
In between albums it's like when you are gone, you're
gone. What do you do in your down time in between albums?
Donell
Jones-A
lot of vacations. I have daughters. I play with my daughters
and just that kind of family thing.
Your album Life Goes On was critically acclaimed
and still maintains nearly a 5 star rating on Amazon.com
after 71 reviews. Why do you think the album wasn't more
recognized when it came to award season?
Donell
Jones-Honestly,
I couldn't tell you why. I put a lot of time and effort
into that record. I just feel like if it's not heard people
can't go out and buy it so it's like out of site out of
mind. That's probably what happened with that particular
record.
I also have several children and you mentioned having
children, do you ever write songs about family life? The
stuff that might not be that appealing to some people
but some people might be interested in.
Donell
Jones-To
be honest with you I write about all kinds of stuff. I
do have some songs like that but those songs tend not
to make the record. We probably ended up writing maybe
50 songs for this record and we narrowed it down to 12-14.
Those type of songs get left out.
Yeah I'm a writer too and my husband always asks me
why I don't write books or songs about the kids. I'm like
"Who wants to hear that?" it's not enjoyable, I was up
all night....
Are there any songs you have written for other artists
that you wish you would have kept for yourself?
Donell
Jones-No,
not really. When I get into writing for another artist
I tap into their head to find out what they are looking
for. When I'm writing for myself I already know what I
want to talk about, how I want to approach it, how I'm
going to sing it. The reason I might want to take it back
because it was very successful and I want that success.
But that doesn't bother me because it's still my baby.
What can you tell me about the new album?
Donell
Jones-This
new album, Journey of a Gemini is one of those
albums you can put in and enjoy from beginning to end.
I think that's why people appreciate my music because
I try to make complete albums and this album right here
is no less than that all the way from 1-14 it's going
to be a great album. I have songs like "Better Start Talking,"
with Jermaine Dupri, it's kind of like a hip-hop flavor
with an MC on it. Then I have songs like "Special Girl,"
which is more like a Teddy Pendagrass record. So there
are a lot of different moods on this album.
Do you work with a variety of producers for your albums
or are there a couple of mainstay producers you always
work with?
Donell
Jones-It's
funny that you ask that because in the past I have done
80% of the work on my album. But Mark Pitts the A&R on
this project, shout out to Mark Pitts, he kind of got
me out of my shell. He said, "Come on let's do some collaborations,"cause
I usually don't do that a lot. But on this album we worked
with a lot of great producers. Tim and Bob, Jermaine Dupri,
a new producer by the name of Sean Garrett, the Underdogz,
Mike City, there are a lot of great producers on this
album as well as myself.
Speaking of collaborations I want to ask you about
one of your most well known collaborations "U Know What's
Up," with Lisa Left Eye Lopes. She wasn't the kind of
artist to just jump on everybody's track so how did that
collaboration come together?
Donell
Jones-It
came together. We are label mates. The label thought it
would be a great idea to have her appear on the record.
"No Scrubs" was out at the time and TLC is a major group.
They wanted somebody to endorse me and that was the perfect
person to do it. She had a lot of attitude, the video
was great, I mean it worked, it worked well together.
I just got finished listening to the new song have you
shot the video yet?
Donell
Jones-Yeah
we shot the video about a week ago.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
Donell
Jones-Get
out here, grind it out, hit the road, go to all the parties,
I might pop up and sing a song at some of the partys.
I just want my fans to know I'm coming back and it's going
to be a beautiful year.
 Donell
Jones interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com
2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She
is the founder of Thabiz.com
and Imissthe80s.com
and writes for the Rap,
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Ne-Yo interview may not be reprinted, copied or distributed.
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Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com
October 2005. |
