Jonathan David Buck was born on November 11,
1974 in Pawyucket, Rhode Island. At a young age Jon moved with his family to Altadena,
California, where he was raised. Jon definitely comes from a musical family. His
father, David Buck, is a retired music professor who taught at California State University, Los Angeles. His mother, Linda Buck, is a
concert pianist and a piano teacher. He has one sister named Deborah who plays the violin in the Manhattan Quartet, and one brother
named Kevin, who plays the cello, guitar, and bass and has actually played instruments on various Jon B. tracks. Jon, himself, was only nine years old when he learned to play the keyboards and started writing his own original songs. He was also soon proficient on the bass as well as the drums.
Growing up, Jon's family was always playing classical music in their home, but Jon started gravitating towards more soulful and edgier music. Jon explains, "My grandparents owned a record store, and they would give me free records which
is how I first got to hear pop and R&B music." He also states "My mom didn't play Marvin Gaye in the house, she didn't play O'Jays in the house.....the records that I found that were soul records, and, you know, rock records back then, were records that I found on my own."
Jon attended Eliot
Middle School in Altadena, CA, as well as John Muir, and L.A. County High School for the Arts. By his teenage years Jon had recorded dozens of demo tracks. While still in high
school, Jon had been urged by to contact Tracey E. Edmonds, the
President & CEO of Yab Yum Records at the time. "I came to Yab Yum with my tape and played it for her and everything and she loved it" Jon says. Jon was then contracted as a solo singer and songwriter and signed to Yab Yum Records.
Jon started writing and producing music for various artists. Some of his first work included two remixes he produced of Michael Jackson's single "You Are Not Alone" as well as music for artists such as Az Yet, Color Me Badd, and Toni Braxton. He also wrote and produced four songs for the After 7 album "Reflections". Jon's first single was a duet with Babyface entitled "Someone To Love". The song was featured on the Bad Boys soundtrack and later on Jon's debut album "Bonafide". "Someone To Love" eventually became Jon's first Gold single. In May of 1995, he released his debut
album "Bonafide", which later went Gold as well. Jon B. wrote, produced, and arranged all except two of the songs on the album. Jon played instruments on every single track from the album. He also solely handled the drum programing on all except two tracks on the album.
In 1997, it was time
for Jon to release his sophomore album, entitled "Cool Relax". "My first album helped me
find my own style and my own voice. Now I've found my niche and the new music reflects it.
This record feels natural. When I was writing, the music just flowed out" Jon
explains about recording the album. "Cool Relax" later went Double Platinum and became Jon's most succesful work to date. The album
featured Jon's top-charting singles "They Don't Know" and "Are U Still Down?" as well as three other singles,
"Don't Say", "I Do (Whatcha Say Boo)",
and the title track "Cool Relax".
In 2001, Jon released his long awaited third album "Pleasures U Like". After the release of this album, Jon started expeirencing many new challenges in his life. "My last album [Pleasures U Like] kinda fizzled out, We did a gold album, which is
really cool, off of one single, but I just felt like [the label]
should've
released more than one single. I worked really hard on that album...I think that it was
just a matter of promotion", Jon says about the album. Jon eventually left Epic Records and Sony all together and signed to DreamWorks Records. Unfortunately things fell apart at DreamWorks Records as well as Interscope Records bought the label out and it became a subsidary company of Interscope.
These weren't the only challenging situations which took place around this time. "I lost my entire recording studio in a fire, which was devastating. Then I went through a divorce, which was horribly painful", Jon describes. "The fire was too tremendous for me to be sane. I completely
broke away from the world. I went through a four-month period where I
lived in Venice Beach by myself in a furnished apartment that the
fire insurance paid for. And I was able to get my whole life
together down there, with a completely new outlook on life."
These situations inspired the music for Jon B.'s fourth album "Stronger Everyday". The album was originally scheduled to be released on November 25, 2003 on DreamWorks Records with the title "Everyday Struggles", but it didn't hit stores until October 5, 2004, on Sanctuary Urban Records with the title "Stronger Everyday".
"Stronger Everyday" is the most personal work fans have heard from Jon B.
"Yes, I'm a grown man, but that doesn't mean I don't have any feelings. Men can
express what's going on in their hearts; we don't have to keep everything inside all the
time. In the years since my last album was released, I've been going through some
extremely rough times" Jon says. "Everything on this album is based on real
experiences. These are literal statements - I'm putting my life and soul into this
music. An artist can have hot tracks, but if you’ve been through some rough times – and we all have – then I want to feel it in your music. I believe you must go deep and really tap into your emotions before you can speak the truth about anything."
