FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Will J. Jones Will "Dub" Jones  January 16, 2000 Age 71  Diabetes/Lung Cancer? If you have a photo of Will please contact me  OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS  Buy or Hear the Music         Editor's Pick: The Coasters:  50 Coastin' Classics

OBITUARY 

Will 'Dub' Jones; Sang Bass in the Coasters                                                      Will "Dub" Jones, 71, the bass vocalist for the Coasters who                                            delivered signature lines in rollicking rock 'n' roll hits such as                                            "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown" and "Along Came Jones." The                                            longtime Long Beach resident and native of Shreveport, La., sang                                            the familiar deep-voiced hook line "Don't talk back" in the 1958                                            No. 1 hit "Yakety Yak" and the playfully forlorn line "Why's                                            everybody always picking on me?" in the 1959 tune "Charlie                                            Brown," which reached No. 2 on the U.S. pop charts. Jones, an                                            Army veteran, came to prominence in another Los Angeles-based                                            R&B vocal group, the Cadets, which began in the late 1940s as a                                            gospel act and scored a hit with "Stranded in the Jungle" in 1956.                                            The Coasters, who first assembled in 1955 and had already                                            scored hits such as "Searchin' " and "Young Blood," selected                                            Jones to replace original bass singer Bobby Nunn in their lineup in                                            1958. The Coasters' series of sly, upbeat Top 10 hits--all written                                            by seminal songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller--ended                                            with "Poison Ivy" in 1959, but their influence landed them in the                                            Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the hall's second year of                                            inductions. Jones turned his career back to gospel in the 1970s                                            and performed with groups such as the Mighty Travelers. He died .                                            on January 16 in Long Beach after a prolonged battle with diabetes.

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Will ‘Dub’ Jones (b. May 14, 1928, Shreveport, La)   Born Will J. Jones in Shreveport, Louisiana May 14, 1928 (not 1930 or 1936, as he liked to tell people). Received his military discharge in Los Angeles, California. Was one of the early "pupils" of the West Coast "doo-wop father" Jesse Belvin and became a spiritual singer in partner-ship with the young Ted Taylor and Lloyd McCraw in 1954 (in the Santa Monica Soul Seekers), the precursors of the Cadets/Jacks. This group (a quintet with Aaron Collins and Willie Davies replacing Taylor) recorded several famous cover hits for Modern Records during 1955-1957 as the Cadets (they also recorded as the Jacks for the Bihari brothers). Notable titles: "Heartbreak Hotel", the hit version of "Stranded In The Jungle", and as Will Jones & The Cadets the ballad "Hands Across The Table". Will probably also worked behind Jesse Belvin and Young Jessie in studios. Became the obvious replacement for Bobby Nunn, when Leiber-Stoller decided to bring the Coasters to New York. Jones was a member of the Coasters during the classic years. He recorded with Cora Washington as "Cora & Dub" after his leave and is rumored to have guested the Trammps (on a revival of "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart"). In New York he also did some recordings as by "The Coasters" (a.o. "If I A Hammer" for ATA), but later moved back to Los Angeles, where he teamed up with his old mentor, the creator of the Cadets, Lloyd McCraw, recording spirituals/gospels (a.o. "Joshua Fit The Battle" as the Melodians). Launched his "The World Famous Coasters" in the ´80s, often featuring Billy Guy. This group was scheduled for England in 1992, but didn´t materialize. "Dub" died in Long Beach, California on January 16, 2000 at the age of 71 after some years of semi-retirement.    The Coasters   This R&B vocal group hailed from Los Angeles, USA. The illustrious career of the Coasters, the pre-eminent vocal group of the early rock ‘n’ roll era, was built on a remarkable body of cleverly comic R&B songs of their producers, Leiber And Stoller. Under their direction, the Coasters eschewed the crooning of ballads favoured by most groups of the era for robust and full-throated R&B shouting. The group came together in 1955 from remnants of the Robins, who had a dispute with their producers/songwriters, Leiber and Stoller. The original Coasters consisted of two ex-Robins, Carl Gardner (b. 29 April 1928, Tyler, Texas, USA; lead) and Bobby Nunn (b. 1925, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 5 November 1990; bass), plus Leon Hughes (b. 1938; tenor), Billy Guy (b. 20 June 1936, Itasca, Texas, USA; lead and baritone) and Adolph Jacobs (b. Oakland, California, USA; guitar). Hughes was replaced in 1956 by Young Jessie who in turn was replaced by ex-Flairs Cornell Gunther (b. 14 November 1936, Los Angeles, California, USA). Nunn in 1958 was replaced by ex-Cadets Will ‘Dub’ Jones (b. 1939, Los Angeles, California, USA). Ex-Cadillacs Earl Carroll (b. Gregory Carroll, 2 November 1937, New York, New York, USA) replaced Gunther in 1961.    The Coasters first charted with Down In Mexico (US R&B Top 10) in 1956, but the double-sided hit from 1957, Searchin' (US R&B number 1 and pop number 3) and Young Blood (US R&B number 2 and pop Top 10) established the group as major rock ‘n’ roll stars. (In the UK Searchin' reached number 30). Three more giant hits sustained the Coasters’ career, namely Yakety Yak (US R&B and pop number 1 in 1958), Charlie Brown (US R&B and pop number 2 in 1959), and Poison Ivy (US R&B number 1 and pop Top 10 in 1959). In the UK Yakety Yak went to number 12, Charlie Brown to number 6, and Poison Ivy to number 15, the group's last chart record in the UK. By this time, they were generally regarded as one of the wittiest exponents of teenage growing problems to emerge from the rock ‘n’ roll era. By the early '60s the lustre had worn off, as the hits increasingly emphasized the comic lyrics to the detriment of the music. The group continued for decades as an oldies act, and fractured into two different groups playing the oldies circuit. Bobby Nunn died on 5 November 1986; Cornell Gunther on 26 February 1990.

 

LINKS

The Coasters Website  History of Rock Coaster's Page Jim Lowe's Coaster's Page Jacks/Cadets/Flares Site The West Coast Groups

 

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