From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue May 14, 2002  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Will "Dub" Jones
 
WILL "DUB" JONES

Born Will J. Jones, 14 May 1928, Shreveport, Louisiana
Died 16 January 2000, Long Beach, California

"Dub" Jones was the bass vocalist of the Coasters from January 1958
till March 1968, and, prior to that, of the Cadets / Jacks.
Here is his Goldmine obituary (by Bill Dahl):

Will "Dub" Jones, the floor-rumbling bass voice of The Coasters, whose
deadpan reading of the immortal line "Why's everybody always pickin' on me"
enlivened the group's 1959 Jerry Leiber/MikeStoller-penned and produced
smash "Charlie Brown," died Jan. 16, 2000, in Long Beach, Calif., at age 71.
Born May 14, 1928, in Shreveport, La., as a young man Jones completed his
military service in Los Angeles and joined a gospel sextet, The Santa Monica
Soul Seekers (along with Aaron Collins and Ted Taylor). Modern Records A&R
director Maxwell Davis convinced five members (including Jones) to cross
over to the secular side of the tracks in 1955. Thus began a curious chapter
in L.A. R&B history - the quintet recording simultaneously as The Cadets for
Modern and as The Jacks for its RPM subsidiary. Jones' deep-hued vocals (one
of his main influences was Ravens' bass Jimmy Ricks) were often out front on
The Cadets' releases, many of which were covers of then-hot R&B tunes issued
by other labels. Such was the case with The Cadets' biggest hit, "Stranded
In The Jungle"; the jumping novelty song had only recently been released on
L.A.'s tiny Flash logo, by The Jayhawks. In The Cadets' more polished hands,
"Stranded In The Jungle" vaulted to # 4 on Billboard's R&B charts and # 15 Pop
in the summer of 1956. Jones also handled leads for The Cadets' covers of
"Heartbreak Hotel" (needless to say, their reading made scant inroads
against Elvis Presley), Charles Calhoun's "Smack Dab In The Middle,"
Peppermint Harris' "I Got Loaded" and Johnny "Guitar" Watson's strutting
"Love Bandit" (better known as "Gangster Of Love").

When Bobby Nunn left The Coasters, Jones replaced him in early 1958 - just
in time to participate in the group's across-the-board chart-topper for Atco,
"Yakety Yak." This was the heyday of the legendary vocal group, and
their producers, Leiber and Stoller, took full advantage of Jones' sharp
comic timing. He shared lead vocal duties with Cornell Gunter on "Yakety
Yak's" breathtaking flip, "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart" and took over
altogether for the Latin-tinged "Sorry But I'm Gonna Have To Pass." Jones'
contributions to "The Shadow Knows," "Along Came Jones," "That Is Rock &
Roll," "Three Cool Cats" and "Shoppin' For Clothes" helped to make them
enduring classics. The Coasters' 1960 Atco LP "One By One" gave Jones and his
each of his comrades (Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, and Gunter) a chance to croon
some serious material, the bass vocalist responding with smooth renditions
of "The Way You Look Tonight," "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" and
"But Beautiful." Jones remained a Coaster for most of the rest of the decade,
putting in a memorable appearance with the group on the Feb. 10, 1965,
episode of the weekly ABC-TV rock spectacular Shindig! and providing his
usual flawless vocal bottom for The Coasters' '67 reading of "D.W. Washburn"
on Columbia's Date subsidiary. Funeral services for Jones were held Jan. 24
at Bethel Miracle Church in Long Beach, Calif.

Most of the Cadets/Jacks recordings are available on two Ace CD's:
The Cadets Meet the Jacks : Stranded in the Jungle (Ace 534)
The Jacks Meet the Cadets : Why Don't You Write Me (Ace 535)