Jon B

Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 8:00 PM at South Orange Performing Arts Center

Jon B is a consummate artist, an accomplished musician and noted songwriter and producer with several gold and platinum records under his belt. His is a richly textured body of music, a testament to one man’s love Soul. His early influences include Duran Duran, Inxs, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Babyface, Prince and Sade. Knowing the path he desired to take in life, he spent the summer after high school writing, producing and recording 40 incredible songs and began making his rounds to all major record labels.

Within a few months, he’d met Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and his wife, Tracy Edmonds, who were interested in signing Jon to their label imprint, Edmonds Record Group (formerly Yab Yum). The relationship between Jon and Edmonds Record Group immediately bore fruit. His debut album Bonafidewent platinum and he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for the single, “Someone to Love.” His sophomore effort Cool Relax also went platinum and earned him multiple Billboard Music Award nominations including Top R&B Artist, Top Hot R&B Single for “They Don’t Know/ Are U Still Down,” Top Hot R&B Singles Artist and a Soul Train Music Award nomination for Best Male Single. “Are U Still Down” featured the legendary Tupac Shakur collaborating with Jon in the studio, before his death in 1996.

Jon also solidified his production sound with a collaboration with Jay Z and Coko (from SWV) featured on the “Hav Plenty” sound track. His third album Pleasures U Like featured some of R&B and Hip Hop’s heavy weights, Faith Evan’s, Nas, Az and Cuban Link, as well as the successful single “Don’t Talk” which Jon wrote and produced himself. His appreciation for the music and the culture propelled his innovative ideas and ability to express himself in many genres of musical styles including R&B, Hip Hop, Rock, Reggae/Dance Hall and Jazz. Jon later went on to write and produce records for Luther Vandross (“Grown Thangs”), Toni Braxton (“In the Late of Night”) and songs for Gina Thompson, Color Me Badd, Az Yet, as well as remixing Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone.”

Jon’s fourth release Stronger Everyday was another gem of an album full of amazing tracks and collaboration’s with Hip Hop legend’s like Scarface, Old Dirty Bastard and Bennie Man. In 2008 he released “Helpless Romantic” Keeping the tradition alive of the classic R&B sound. This album was more self-contained with few collaborations but featuring atmospheric, romantic songwriting. This album was Jon getting back to the basics of writing, producing and singing.  In 2013 Jon B released B-Sides Collectiondebuting #5 on iTunes Soul Album Charts. B-Sides Collection features 23 unreleased tracks from 2001-2012.

“With every album 40 to 50 songs are cut and here are some that didn’t make the cut but have remained classics I feel the fans deserve to have a glimpse into all the B-Sides that complete Jon B,” says the prolific songwriter, singer and producer.