John Paul Jones (musician)

John Paul Jones is the stage name of John Baldwin (born January 3, 1946), the bassist and keyboard player for Led Zeppelin until the band's breakup after the death of John Bonham in 1980. A true musical talent, JPJ also plays guitar, mandolin, koto, Lap steel guitars, autoharp, ukulele, mellotron, organ, cello, and the over-dubbed bass recorder heard on Stairway to Heaven.

Session work

Jones joined his first band at 15, which was called The Deltas. He then played bass for jazz-rock London group, Jett Blacks. His big break came in 1962 when he met Jet Harris and Tony Meehan (who had just left The Shadows) and played bass for their band for two years. Jet and Tony had just been at Number 1 hit with "Diamonds" (a track which Jimmy Page played on). In 1964, Jones began session work with Decca Records on the recommendations of Tony Meehan. Between 1964 and 1968 he was much in demand arranging, playing keyboards or bass guitar for artists including The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey, Lulu, and numerous others. As well as recording sessions with Dusty Springfield, Jones also played bass for her Talk Of The Town series of performances. His arranging and playing on Donovan's "Sunshine Superman", resulted in producer Mickie Most using his services as choice arranger for many of his own projects, with Tom Jones, Nico, Wayne Fontana, The Walker Brothers, and many others.

Related Topics:
London - 1962 - 1964 - 1968 - The Rolling Stones - Herman's Hermits - Donovan - Jeff Beck - Cat Stevens - Rod Stewart - Shirley Bassey - Lulu - Dusty Springfield - Mickie Most - Tom Jones - Nico - Wayne Fontana - The Walker Brothers

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Jones also got to record with fellow friends of Tony Meehan and Jet Harris, none other than Meehan and Harris' ex-band, Cliff Richard and the Shadows.

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Before these recordings, Cliff Richard and the Shadows nearly changed history, by nearly preventing the future formation of Led Zeppelin, when they had talks about Jones replacing their ex-bassist Brian "Licorice" Locking. Instead they chose John Rostill.

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