By Bianca Sierra

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

John Allan Jones (January 14, 1938 – October 23, 2024) was an American singer and actor. He was primarily a straight-pop singer (even when he recorded contemporary material) whose forays into jazz were mostly of the big-band/swing music variety. He won two Grammy Awards and received five nominations for Grammys. Notably, he sang the opening theme song for the television series The Love Boat.

Jones continued to perform concerts around the world and in Las Vegas. His recordings include “Lollipops and Roses“, “Wives and Lovers“, “The Race Is On“, “The Impossible Dream“, and “Call Me Irresponsible“. He also sang the opening theme for the 1968 war film Anzio (“This World Is Yours”), as well as the title song for the 1963 film Love with the Proper Stranger, which played on a radio in the film contributing to the storyline.

Jones was married six times. In the second half of the 1960s, he had a well-publicized relationship with actress Jill St. John and they were briefly married. In the early 1970s, Jones married Gretchen Roberts. Later, he was linked romantically to Susan George. From 1977 to 1982, he was married to Kathy Simmons. From 1982 to 2005, he was married to British-born Kim Ely and they had a daughter, Nicole (born in 1991). Jones had another daughter, Crystal Thomas, from a former marriage to Lee Fuller. He lived with wife Eleonora in Indian Wells southeast of Palm Springs, California.

Jones died from leukemia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, on October 23, 2024, at the age of 86.