Ada Jones

Jones was born in Lancashire, UK, but moved with her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of six, in 1879. She started performing on stage, including juvenile roles in the 1880s.{{cite web|last=Sutton|first=Allan|title=A Prehistory of Ada Jones: 1889–1905|url=http://www.mainspringpress.com/jones_history.html|publisher=Mainspring Press|accessdate=22 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807022842/http://www.mainspringpress.com/jones_history.html|archive-date=7 August 2018|url-status=dead}}

She sang in a contralto, learning songs by ear, and lacked the ability to read music or play an instrument. Her repertoire included ballads, ragtime, vaudeville, and comedy in a variety of dialects. During 1893–1894, she recorded for Edison Records on wax cylinders, making her among the earliest female singers to be recorded. She sang with Billy Murray, Billy Watkins, Cal Stewart, Len Spencer, the American Quartet, and with her 12-year-old daughter Sheilah. Touring was made difficult due to epilepsy.{{cite web|title=Ada Jones {{!}} Biography & History|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ada-jones-mn0000496080|website=AllMusic|accessdate=12 November 2016}}

In the 1890s, Jones recorded some musical performances for the North American Phonograph Company, including "Sweet Marie" and "The Volunteer Organist". However, the demise of this company interrupted her recording career, and it was not until 1905 that she returned to recording, after a few years doing performances at such locations as Huber's 14th Street Museum in New York City.

Jones recorded "The Yama Yama Man" in 1909 for the Victor Light Opera Company.[https://archive.org/details/AdaJonesVictorLightOperaCompany-TheYamaYamaMan1909 Ada Jones & Victor Light Opera Company - The Yama Yama Man 1909], Internet Archive The lyrics for verse two and three were changed from the original, verse two being more bawdy. It was the most popular song of her career, becoming a bestseller.[http://www.netlexfrance.info/2006/07/05/the-yama-yama-man/ "The Yama Yama Man"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426071513/http://www.netlexfrance.info/2006/07/05/the-yama-yama-man/ |date=April 26, 2012 }}, Netlex News, July 5, 2006.

Jones died in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on May 22, 1922 of kidney failure.

• Ada Jones discography

{{Listen

| filename = Dixie (1916).ogg

| title =Dixie

| description = Dixie by the Metropolitan Mixed Chorus with Ada Jones and Billy Murray, 1916

| filename2 =Ada Jones and Billy Murray - Shine On, Harvest Moon.ogg

| title2 = Shine On, Harvest Moon

| description2 = "Shine On, Harvest Moon" by Ada Jones and Billy Murray, 1909

| filename3 =Audio for Ada Jones- Whistle and I'll Wait for You - 1909.ogg

| title3 =Whistle and I'll Wait for You

| description3 =Solo recording, 1909

}}

• "Sweet Marie" (c. 1893–94)
• "The Volunteer Organist" (c. 1893–94)
• "Please Come Play in My Yard" (1905)
• "I'm a Woman of Importance"{{Cite web|title=Victor matrix B-2957. I'm a woman of importance / Ada Jones - Discography of American Historical Recordings|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200004451/B-2957-Im_a_woman_of_importance|access-date=2021-04-27|website=adp.library.ucsb.edu}} (1906)
• "Don't Get Married Any More, Ma" (1906, 1907; multiple recordings)
• "Experience (from 'The Little Cherub')" (1906)
• "Peaches and Cream", Ada Jones and Len Spencer (Lowitz cylinder 1906)Frank Hoffmann, B Lee Cooper, Tim Gracyk -Popular American Recording Pioneers: 1895-1925 - Page 188 1136592296 2012 -"She is called "Miss Ada Jones," though in Manhattan on August 9, 1904, she had married Hughie Flaherty. ... On various records the two imitated Bowery toughs (on the popular "Peaches and Cream," Spencer was a "newsy" named Jimmie, ..."
• "All She Gets from the Iceman Is Ice" (1907)
• "If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon" (1907)
• "I Just Can't Make My Eyes Behave" (1907)
• "Now I Have to Call Him 'Father'" (1908)
• "I've Got Rings On My Fingers" (1909)
• "My Pony Boy" (1909)
• "The Yama Yama Man" (1909)
• "Whistle, and I'll Wait for You" (1909)
• "Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon" (1910)
• "Oh, You Candy Kid" (1910)
• "The Girl With the Brogue" (1910)
• "Whistle It" (1912) (with Peerless Quartet)
• "Down in Gossip Row" (1912 Victor 17056-B)
• "Row! Row! Row!" (1913)
• "Beatrice Fairfax, Tell Me What to Do!" (1915)

File:Ada Jones sending morse code in 1918.jpg

• "Under the Anheuser Bush" (Anheuser Busch Promotional){{citation needed|date=November 2013}}
• "Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" (1907)
• "School Days" (1907)
• "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine" (1908)
• "The Boy Who Stuttered and the Girl Who Lisped" (1908)
• "Wouldn't You Like to Have Me for a Sweetheart?" (1908)
• "Blue Feather" (1909)
• "Can't You See I Love You" (1909) (Edison Standard Record: 10190)
• "Googy-oo" (1909) (Edison Amberol: 211)
• "I Can't Say You're the Only One" (1909) (Edison Standard Record: 10069)
• "Oh You Kid!" (1909) (Edison 10090)
• "Shine On, Harvest Moon" (1909)
• "Rainbow" (1909) (Columbia 10049)
• "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine" (1911)
• "My Hula Hula Love" (1911)
• "Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee" (1912)
• "Nora Malone (Call Me by Phone)" (1912)
• "Silver Bell" (1912)
• "If I Said 'Please'" (1913)
• "Snow Deer" (1913)
• "Somebody's Coming to My House" (1913)
• "Bedtime at the Zoo" (1914)
• "By the Beautiful Sea" (1914)
• "Dixie" (1916)
• "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" (1917)
• "Some Sunday Morning" (1918)
• "When Frances Dances With Me" (1921)

• Ada Jones discography
• List of songs recorded by Ada Jones
• Billy Murray
• Len Spencer

{{Reflist}}

• [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=%40attr+1%3D1016+&query=ada+jones Ada Jones cylinder recordings], from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library
• [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106561 Ada Jones recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.{{Gutenberg|no=10193|name=Backyard Conversation Between Mrs. Reilly and Mrs. Finnegan|author=Ada Jones and Steve Porter}}
• [http://mds.marshall.edu/sc_ec/34/ Silver Bell]
• [http://mds.marshall.edu/sc_ec/7/ Snow Deer]

{{Ada Jones}}

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Category:1873 births

Category:1922 deaths

Category:English emigrants to the United States

Category:Singers from Philadelphia

Category:English vaudeville performers

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:Pioneer recording artists

Category:RCA Victor artists

Category:Columbia Records artists

Category:Deaths from kidney failure in the United States

Category:Zonophone Records artists

Category:19th-century American women singers

Category:19th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American singers