The music world has suffered yet another loss. Singer Brenda Jones of the R&B trio The Jones Girls has passed away; she was 62 reported EBONY magazine.
Valerie, Shirley, and Brenda Jones, collectively known as the Jones Girls, spent more than ten years in the music business before they tasted success of their own. During that time, however, their voices graced the records and stage performances of dozens of established stars, including Diana Ross and Betty Everett. By the mid-’80s, the group had nine charting R&B singles, including the Top 10 hits “You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else” and “I Just Love the Man,” as well as the deep classics “Who Can I Run To” and “Nights Over Egypt.”
Although Brenda Jones was not living with diabetes, we feel her death is still newsworthy to our Divabetic community since many of Luther Vandross‘ devoted fans were also fans of the Jones Girls.
Divabetic (divabetic.org) was inspired by late R & B legend, Luther Vandross who died of diabetes health-related complications in 2005. Our unique mixture of diabetes education with R & B and other genres of music featured on our free monthly podcasts, Diabetes Late Nite help to broaden the appeal of diabetes outreach.
According to her sister, Shirley Jones, the singer was struck on Monday, April 3, by several cars while attempting to cross the street while visiting her daughter in Wilmington, Delaware. Police are still investigating the incident, but her sister called Brenda’s death a heartbreaking loss.
“My sister was my life, she was probably one of the sweetest people you’d ever want to meet,” Shirley Jones told EBONY. “When we lost Val in 2001 that was a real big blow to the family….The bond that we had growing up was unique; it was so special.”
Shirley Jones continued, “The heartbreak is phenomenal. I can’t even imagine going on without her but life will go on. We’re strong and we’re going to persevere in her name. She was truly a wonderful person.”
The Jones Girls’ performances with Diana Ross opened up many doors including a contract with Philadelphia International Records at the end of the ’70s. The trio cut four LPs in their three years with the label, enjoying a string of hits around them including “You’re Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else,” “Better Things to Do,” “Nights Over Egypt,” and “I Just Love the Man.” They later left Philadelphia International for an offer from RCA, but their sales at the new label were poor. The trio never recaptured the moment they had at the end of the ’70s and the beginning of the ’80s. Shirley Jones, who was the first of the trio to record singly, with an entire album for Philadelphia International, continued to carve out a separate career. Valerie died in 2001.
Read more at EBONY
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Don’t miss April’s Diabetes Late Nite featuring music by Lang Lang on Tuesday, April 11, 2017, 6 PM, EST. Guests include Grammy Award winning singer, Lisa Fischer, Poet Lorraine Brooks, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach and Mama Rose Marie.