Gospel singer and composer Brent Jones merges R&B grooves with hip-hop rhythms, a distinctive gospel approach that has produced partnerships stretching from Vickie Winans to Childish Gambino. After his ensemble Brent Jones & the T.P. Mobb placed its 1999 self-titled debut and the 2002 follow-up Beautiful on both the Billboard gospel and R&B/hip-hop charts, Jones reached the gospel Top Ten as a solo artist with the gentler, soul-leaning Joy Comin' in 2014. The 2018 album Open Your Mouth and Say Something strengthened his standing and paved the way for what he termed “a quadruple release” of four separate projects in 2024.
A native of Los Angeles, Brent Ray Jones started piano lessons at age six and was named music director at his church while still in his mid-teens. As an adult he made his first recorded appearance on Motown’s 1994 anthology Motown Comes Home, alongside such label figures as Smokey Robinson and the Temptations, contributing the track “Spirit Control Me.” Brent Jones & the T.P. Mobb delivered their self-titled debut in 1999, a collection of more than a dozen optimistic devotional pieces that fused laid-back R&B, West Coast hip-hop verses, and classic gospel choir settings. The group returned in 2002 with Beautiful, whose single “Midnight” featured SWV’s Coko. Their third effort, The Ultimate Weekend, appeared in 2007; after a recording break Jones issued the solo Joy Comin' in 2014 with the Orange County Gospel Choir.
Brent Jones & the Best Life Singers supplied choral backing on several cuts of Donald Glover’s 2016 Childish Gambino album “Awaken, My Love!” Jones’s next solo project, Open Your Mouth and Say Something, entered the Billboard gospel chart at number three in 2018. Its popularity led to a 2019 singalong edition and the 2021 deluxe version Open Your Mouth and Say Something 2.0. He contributed to the Trolls World Tour soundtrack in 2020 and released the full-length Nothing Else Matters (Instead of Complaining, Praise Him) in 2022, which earned a Stellar Award for Choir of the Year in 2023.
Jones launched an ambitious 2024 campaign titled “A Quadruple Release,” comprising four distinct albums. Brent Jones Presents The Fire introduced a children’s gospel group; Open Your Mouth (The Sermon) followed, then Live Your Best Life! and The Praise & Worship Songs of Brent Jones.
