Jon B – They Don’t Know – Live On MusicPlusTv.com

Jon B Performs “They Don’t Know” Live At MusicPlusTv.com Studios

Jon B Performs “They Don’t Know” Live At MusicPlusTv.com Studios

About Jon B:

Born in Rhode Island and raised in Pasadena, California, Buck comes from a musical family, with his father David, a professor of music, his mother Linda, a concert pianist and his siblings Deborah, a violinist and his brother Kevin, a cellist. He first started singing at the age of four, and learned piano and keyboard by nine. By 16, he played bass and drums as well. Because his grandparents also owned a record store, Buck was raised on a varied musical diet that included influences like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

In 1992, Jon B. was shipping demos around when he caught the attention of Tracey Edmonds, then President and CEO of Yab-Yum Records. He was contracted as a songwriter for Edmonds and her husband, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and wrote songs for After 7, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Color Me Badd and others. In 1995, his debut album, Bonafide, was released by Yab Yum/Sony 550/Epic Records. The album contained the top ten hit “Someone To Love,” a duet with Babyface that gained wide exposure on the Bad Boys soundtrack, peaking at #10 on the U.S. charts. The Grammy-nominated track highlighted his dulcet tenor voice and garnered Jon comparisons to Babyface himself. Later in the year, his second single “Pretty Girl” became a top forty hit, peaking at #25.

In 1997, Jon’s second album, Cool Relax, was released. The album contained three of Jon’s biggest hits; the Tim & Bob produced “They Don’t Know,” “Are U Still Down” (which featured Tupac Shakur), and “I Do (Whatcha Say Boo).” Cool Relax was hailed as one of the best R&B albums released that year, and was certified platinum. While on tour promoting Cool Relax, he formed a group with two of his back-up singers, Dominiquinn and Silky Deluxe, named Jack Herrera collectively. A full album, titled Retro Futuristo, was put together, but never officially released. However, two tracks from the project did see release. “Free To Believe” appeared on the soundtrack to the film Light It Up and “High Off You” appeared on Red Star Sounds, Vol. 1: Soul Searching. In 1999, Jon married his high school sweetheart, Musiic.

His third album, Pleasures U Like was released in 2001, with the sole single being “Don’t Talk”. The song rose as high as #3 on the US R&B charts. The album was well received critically and publicly, going gold, but poor promotion spurred Jon to leave Epic after its release.

Jon said of the situation: “It was time for new energy. My last album,  we did a gold album, which is really cool, off of one single… I worked really hard on that album. I had Nas on there, Faith on there, AZ, Cuban Link – it was a full album, as far as having a shot on the market. But I think that it was just a matter of promotion.”

In 2002, a fire in his home caused the destruction of his recording studio. Later, his marriage to wife Musiic ended in divorce. These events caused Jon to take time off to regroup, later signing with Sanctuary Urban Records.

In 2004, his fourth album, Stronger Everyday, was released. Like Pleasures U Like, it was well-received critically, but received sub-par promotion. He then left Sanctuary Urban in late 2005.

In 2006, Jon signed with Arsenal Records. In November 2006, Jon released Holiday Wishes: From Me To You, a collection of original compositions and his covers of Christmas classics. That same year, Mexican pop band RBD released a cover of Jon B’s “Tu Amor” as the first single of their English album “Rebels.”

In 2007, Jon married his second wife, Denette Jackson. Jon described her in an interview as a “great, great woman” from Victorville, California. “She’s not in the music industry. She’s just a regular girl. It’s cool because she’s old-fashioned. I love her,”. Jon said he had proposed to her several times in private but shook off the nerves during a Valentine’s Day concert in Las Vegas and made it publicly known to fans, probably for the first time, that she was the love of his life. In July 2007, Jon and Denette welcomed their first child, daughter Azzure Luna (which means Blue Moon).

Jon released his fifth studio album in 2008, “Helpless Romantic” (which was originally titled Back To Love). The first single “Ooh So Sexy” featured southern rapper Paul Wall. This album also received poor label support/promotion, and no music videos were shot or promoted. Jon collaborated on the song “Tonight” off of Paul Wall’s 2007 album “Get Money Stay True”.

Jon is currently working on his sixth studio album, “Comfortable Swagg”. The first single of the album is entitled “After The Party”. Snippets of the song have already been leaked on Youtube. Fans can listen to the instrumental version with chorus on his website, jonbworld.com. Jon has recently stated that the new album is having it’s “final touches”. The album is due to be released September 2010.