Grace Jones

Grace Jones (born 19.5.1948)

Grace Jones is a Jamaican / American singer, as well as an actress and a model.

Grace Jones: Childhood

Grace Jones was born in Jamaica. Her mother was Marjorie Jones and her father, Robert Jones, was a politician and a member of the clergy for the Apostolic faith.

In 1965, Marjorie and Robert moved to New York with their two children, Grace and Randy. Grace studied theatre at Onondaga Community College and then became a model, working mainly in New York and Paris.

Grace Jones: Music Career

In 1977, Grace Jones signed to Island Records. Her debut album, Portfolio was released the same year and included the singles 'Sorry' and 'I Need a Man'. The following year, she released Fame, and released the singles 'Fame', 'Am I Ever Gonna Fall In Love In New York City' and 'Do Or Die'. Grace Jones' third album was entitled Muse and was released in 1979. It was the third album on which Jones worked with disco producer Tom Moulter and it spawned the singles 'I'll Find My Way To You' and 'On Your Knees'.

Andy Warhol adopted Grace Jones as his artistic muse and the pair were often spotted together at the infamous New York nightclub, Studio 54.

Grace Jones began to move away from her original disco-pop sound and began to take influence from the New Wave music that was emerging from the New York underground scene. In 1980, Jones released the Warm Leatherette album, working with Alex Sadkin and Chris Blackwell on production duties. This was followed by Nightclubbing, on which she continued her trend of re-working songs by artists such as Iggy Pop, Roxy Music, Tom Petty and The Pretenders.

To coincide with this shift in musical direction, Jones also changed her image to a more androgynous look, with a severe, angular haircut and sharp-cut outfits. In 1985, Grace Jones released her iconic album Slave to the Rhythm on ZTT Records. From this album, Jones released the singles 'Slave to the Rhythm' and 'Jones The Rhythm'.

Jones continued to collaborate with Sadkin on her next album Living My Life, which carried a heavy dub and reggae influence. In 1989, Jones released Bulletproof Heart, which contained the single 'Love on Top of Love'.

Grace Jones contributed vocals to the huge Arcadia hit, 'Election Day' is 1985.

Jones was always keen to add visual spectacle to her live shows. In 1985, the artist Keith Haring painted her body with tribal designs and designed her a wire suit of armour to wear. It has been reported that Grace Jones is a musical influence on modern day acts such as Santogold and TV on the Radio.

In 2002, Grace Jones and Luciano Pavarotti performed together in Italy, for a fundraising concert for the United Nations.

2006 saw the release of a 3-CD retrospective of Grace Jones' musical output, entitled The Ultimate Collection.

During 2007, Grace Jones worked with Ivor Guest on her album Corporate Cannibal, which was then released in 2008. The album featured contributions from a number of artists, such as Sly & Robbie, Tricky and Brian Eno. That year, she performed as a part of London's Meltdown festival, which was curated by Massive Attack.

Grace Jones: Film Career

Grace Jones has appeared in a number of mainstream movies, including 1973's Gordon's War and 1984's Conan the Destroyer - which also featured Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then, in 1986, she starred in Vamp, a vampire movie. In 1992, Jones played an eccentric supermodel named Helen Strange in Eddie Murphy's Boomerang.

Grace Jones: Reputation

In 1981, Grace Jones shocked TV audiences when she slapped the chat show host, Russell Harty across the face when she felt that he was ignoring her.

Grace Jones: Personal Life

In the 1980s, Grace Jones dated two Scandinavian bodybuilder / actors. The first was Dolph Lundgren and the second was Sven-Ole Thorsen.

Grace then married Chris Stanley in 1989 but they divorced the next year.

Six years later, Jones married a Belgian named Atila Altaunbay.

Grace has a son, Paulo, from a previous relationship with Jean-Paul Goude.

More recently, Jones became engaged to the music producer Ivor Guest but the relationship is reported to have been called off.