Ada Jones

Ada Jane Jones entered the world on 1 June 1873 in Oldham, Lancashire, England, and departed it on 22 May 1922 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA. Around 1879 her parents took the family across the Atlantic and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jones stepped onto a stage for the first time at seven, and soon afterward her portrait graced published sheet music. In the winter of 1893–94 she committed her earliest discs to wax, among them “Sweet Marie” and “The Volunteer Organist,” making her, it appears, the first woman to record as a solo vocalist. When she re-entered the studios in 1904 she tackled sentimental ballads, contemporary “coon” songs, and comic vaudeville routines that showcased her command of various dialects, all while maintaining a parallel career on the theatrical stage.

Tim Gracyk’s meticulous scholarship records that Jones lived with epilepsy, a condition that rendered sustained live work difficult. Her return to recording was eased by the singer Billy Murray. Among the titles she cut on her own were “My Carolina Lady,” “You Ain’t The Man I Thought You Was,” “I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave,” “The Yama, Yama Man,” “I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers,” “Row! Row! Row!” and “Just Plain Folks.” She also partnered with the American Quartet on “Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon” and “Come Josephine In My Flying Machine”; with Murray on “Wouldn’t You Like To Flirt With Me?,” “I’m Sorry,” “Will You Be My Teddy Bear,” “I’d Like To See A Little More Of You,” “Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee,” “Smile Smile Smile,” “Bye And Bye” and “Rainbow”; with Len Spencer on “Heinie” and “The Hand Of Fate” and, in dozens of sketches, as the pairs Reuben and Cynthia, Rudolph and Rosie, Louie and Lena, and Jimmie and Maggie; with Billy Watkins on “By The Beautiful Sea”; and with Cal Stewart in sketches portraying Uncle Josh and Aunt Nancy.

During the First World War she recorded “We’ll Keep Things Going Till The Boys Come Home” and “They Were All Out Of Step But Jim,” yet those same years brought a sudden and permanent drop in her studio activity. In 1918 she shared a session with her twelve-year-old daughter, Sheilah. Jones kept performing in vaudeville but appeared on disc only sporadically thereafter. Her final dates, held in 1921, included “When Francis Dances With Me” with both Murray and Billy Jones, plus the additional duet “On A Little Side Street” with the latter artist and a solo version of the same song.