Doris Jones, a soul singer born in America, achieved greater recognition across Europe than in her native land. She entered the world in South Carolina in 1948 and relocated to New York eleven years afterward, where she began performing with the Merick Baptist Church Choir.
At age twenty she assembled the trio Sex, Love & Life with her sister Lumishia and one additional associate; the group appeared at such rooms as the Galaxy, the Jupiter, and the Boston Globe. In 1972 Jones joined two other singers as the Electric Ladies to cut “King Kong” for Mainstream Records, yet the single made no impression in either the States or Britain.
Her next venture placed her in the band Gallery for a nationwide tour. Afterward she rejoined her sister and a colleague named Karen to form Black Stash, which recorded “Mighty Love Man” for Opal Productions under the supervision of Herb Rooney of the Exciters.
Her career opened further when the Englishman Ian Levine arrived in the United States in search of new talent. Having already produced the Exciters, a lineup that included Brenda Reid, mother of L.A. Reid, he continued scouting additional voices. Levine learned of Jones through Rooney, tracked several sides with her in a New Jersey studio, and issued them in England as “He’s So Irreplaceable” and “Stranded in the Wilderness.”
Levine continued to record Jones regularly, and the collected results appear on the compact disc The Best of Doris Jones: No Way Out, released by Hot Productions.
