Jones was found by her brother Richard, her foot trapped beneath the clutch by the engine, while Bolan was found still in the passenger seat which had been dislodged and landed in the rear of the vehicle. They were returning from an evening at a restaurant in Mayfair where they had both been drinking wine. September 16, 1977, on the way back to Bolan's Richmond property.
She was the driver of the car, a Mini 1275 GT, that crashed near Barnes Common, striking a tree and killing Bolan at 4 a.m. She toured the UK with Gonzalez, first on the Bob Marley tour, and then with Osibisa. In 1977, Jones worked with the group Gonzalez, producing several of their singles, and also penning the disco hit, "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" for the group. Jones released an album in 1976, called Vixen, which featured several songs written by Bolan, and he also was the producer for the album. Her rendition of "Dock of the Bay" appears as a bonus track on T. She sang backing vocals and played clavinet with T. Rex, Jones and Bolan became romantically involved. In 1972, she was recommended by Warner Brothers' Bob Regehr to sing backing vocals behind T. While touring in Europe, Bolan and Jones met for the second time at the Speakeasy in London. Rex in 1969 while performing in Hair (Los Angeles cast). Jones left Motown at the end of 1973, following the release of her album Share My Love. The most remembered song that Jones penned was Gladys Knight and the Pips' " If I Were Your Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy in 1971.
In 1970 she provided backing vocals on Ry Cooder's eponymous first album. Songs that Jones worked on during this period include The Supremes' "Have I Lost You" (writer), Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross's "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" (writer), Junior Walker's "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (writer/producer) and the Four Tops' "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)" (writer). As Jones was also initially a singer for the label, protocol demanded a pseudonym, so for some of her co-writes she used the name LaVerne Ware (not to be confused with another Motown songwriter/producer, Leon Ware). Jones and Sawyer were amongst the second string of writers at Motown, but still wrote for such artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Commodores, The Four Tops and The Jackson 5. Eventually, she was to meet Pam Sawyer, who asked her to write for Motown Records. That winter, she joined the Los Angeles cast of Hair, the musical.
During the summer of 1968, she performed in a play called Revolution, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. In 1968, she joined the cast of Catch My Soul, a rock and soul version of the play Othello, which included cast members Jerry Lee Lewis, The Blossoms, and Dr.
Jones studied piano, and acquired an advanced classical degree primarily in the works of Bach. Jones also recorded an album for the Uptown label entitled Come Go with Me which was released in 1966. So strong was Jones's following in Northern England that she was proclaimed "The Queen of Northern Soul". Included among these was another Cobb-written song, " Tainted Love". īy then, Jones had recorded other songs for Uptown Records, a subsidiary of Capitol/ EMI. "Heartbeat" became a rhythm and blues tune which was recorded later by Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis and many other artists. One performance occurred at a Rock and Soul show in Disneyland in the summer of 1965. She toured the United States, performing on several American television programs, footage of which still exists. Signing with Cobb's Greengrass Productions, she recorded her first hit record, "Heartbeat Pts 1 & 2," which Cobb wrote and produced. In 1964, Jones, in her late teens, was discovered by the songwriter Ed Cobb. Although she remained with the group for some four years, she soon found herself drawn into the Los Angeles pop scene. Jones' first taste of fame came at the age of 14, when, while still at school, she formed with Frankie Kahrl and Billy Preston the successful gospel group the COGIC Singers, with whom she recorded the album It's a Blessing. Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Los Angeles, California, at the age of seven, where she first started singing.