Jack Jones Dies: ‘The Love Boat’, ‘Wives And Lovers’ Singer Was 86

Jack Jones, the Grammy-winning singer of popular music fare such as “Lollipops and Roses,” “The Impossible Dream,” “Wives and Lovers” and, perhaps most famously, the theme to TV’s The Love Boat, died Wednesday, October 23. He was 86.

A resident of Coachella Valley, California, Jones, who had been diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, died at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California last night. His family announced the news today to KESQ News Channel 3 of Palm Springs.

Born into a show business family on January 14, 1938, John Allan Jones was the son of singer Allan Jones and actress Irene Hervey. He would become one of the most popular singers of the Adult Contemporary, or Easy Listening, style in the 1960s. He scored Grammy Awards in 1962 (for “Lollipops and Roses”) and 1964 (for the Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition “Wives And Lovers”), just several years after his 1959 album debut This Love Of Mine.

Even as rock music increasingly displaced the crooning, Great American Songbook style favored by Jones, he would continue to score hits throughout the 1960s including “The Race Is On,” “The Impossible Dream (The Quest,)” and “Lady.”

By the 1970s, Jones, a fixture of the era’s variety and talk shows, was recording Easy Listening renditions of music by such contemporary songwriters as Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Gordon Lightfoot, Carole King and even Lowell George (Jones recorded a version of George’s Little Feat hit “Dixie Chicken”). His 1972 album Bread Winners was a tribute to the soft rock band Bread.

While continuing to perform in Las Vegas and on nightclub stages, Jones broke through to a new and wider audience in 1977 when he sang the theme song to the immensely popular TV show The Love Boat. The song, officially titled “Love Boat” and composed by Charles Fox and Paul Williams, would prove popular with both listeners and parodists, and was released by Jones as a single in 1979.

Jones’ version of the theme song would be used for the first eight seasons of the show, with a Dionne Warwick rendition used for the ninth and final season.

Post-Love Boat, Jones continued performing on concert stages and nightclubs, celebrating his 80th birthday with a concert at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert.

Though known primarily as a singer, Jones was an occasional guest starring actor on such 1970s TV series Police Woman, McMillan & Wife and, of course, The Love Boat. He poked some fun at himself by appearing as a lounge singer in Airplane II: The Sequel in 1982.

Married six times, including to the actress Jill St. John from 1967 to 1969, Jones is survived by wife Eleonara, daughters Crystal and Nicole, stepdaughters Nicole and Colette, and three grandchildren.