What the world needs now: A blog post about the voice behind “Theme from The Love Boat”.

My good blogger pal Robert just came up with a rather absurd reference to The Love Boat show in one of his entries, and of course that instantly reminded me of the *groovy* theme song by the distinguished Jack Jones (how couldn’t it?)

The Love Boat - Jack Jones

From my rather rural and definitely non-American perspective I never knew the first thing about mr. Jones until quite recently, when I listened to his 1997 album, New Jack Swing, where he performs swing versions of songs like “Every Breath You Take” and “She’s Leaving Home” - years before Paul Anka did the same on Rock Swings (2005).

I did some investigation and it turns out mr. Jones started his career almost 50 years ago as a kind of ‘1960s Michael Bublé: He won a couple of Grammys early on with his traditional pop records, combining old chestnuts with new material in the same vein. One of his biggest hits was “Wives and Lovers” (1963), something of a pet target for feminists in the 1970s, not without reason, mind you:

Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up
Soon he will open the door
Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger
You needn’t try anymore

Now that’s the way to talk to a lady, all you wimpy singer-songwriters of the 1970s! He still performs it, but always with a humorous approach to the sexist lyrics, he usually delivers a line like “It’s my biggest hit dammit, so I’m gonna sing it”.

After swaggering through the 1960s with his suave James Bond-style, he loosened up a bit post-Summer of Love - let his hair grow long(ish) and in 1973 he rocked out with an entire album of Bread-covers! (incredibly, another reference to Robert’s post)

This enjoyable Jack Jones Special aired around that time.

Jones also has several acting credits to his name. In addition to his guest appearances on “The Love Boat”, he was the star of the minor British horror flick “The Comeback” (1978) and he starred alongside Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in a British TV comedy, “Cruise of the Gods” in 2002. I’m a bit curious about that one, as I loved the Coogan/Brydon-feature “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” (2005), and I’m also a big fan of Coogan’s Alan Partridge character.

At 70, Jack Jones continues to perform in Las Vegas and around the world, apparently to rave reviews, and nowadays he kinda looks like Moses without a beard. The silverfox!

He released his last album in 1998, a tribute to Tony Bennett.

Here he is, performing “The Days of Wine and Roses” with George Shearing live on Larry King: