1960s Jones began singing in the early 1960s as "P.P. Jones", where he performed duets with Elmo Lewis who was later better known as future founder member of
the Rolling Stones,
Brian Jones at the
Ealing Club, home of
Alexis Korner's
Blues Incorporated, whose singers included
Long John Baldry and
Mick Jagger. He was asked by
Keith Richards and Brian Jones to be the lead singer of a group they were forming, but he turned them down.
Manfred Mann: 1964–1966 Jones went on to become the vocalist and harmonica player of the successful 1960s group
Manfred Mann, when he was hired by
Manfred Mann and
Mike Hugg to join their blues band "The Mann–Hugg blues band". Paul Jones had several
Top Ten hits with Manfred Mann, and sang on two of their three UK number one charting songs: "
Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (1964) and "
Pretty Flamingo" (1966), before going solo in July 1966. Jones remained on his recording contract with
EMI. where he charted 10 top-ten singles on
Tio i Topp between 1966 and 1970, including the
number one single "Thinkin' Ain't For Me" in 1967. This was enough to warrant
EMI in Sweden to issue a
greatest hits album of his material in 1968. His subsequent single releases in Britain in the late 1960s were on
Columbia. In 1967, Jones starred opposite model
Jean Shrimpton in the 1967 film
Privilege By the late 1960s, Jones had released four solo albums:
My Way (1966),
Sings Songs From The Film Privilege (1967),
Love Me, Love My Friends (1968), and
Come into My Music Box (1969).
1970s In 1971 Jones participated in
Carla Bley's album
Escalator Over the Hill. On the same year he recorded
Crucifix in a Horseshoe with White Cloud, a New York-based
session group featuring Teddy Wender on keyboards and
Kenny Kosek on
fiddle. He acted in the 1972 horror film
Demons of the Mind. In 1973 Jones guest appeared in
ITC The Protectors, in an episode called "Goodbye George", playing a character called Caspar Parton. He also appeared in ITC-RAI
Space: 1999, in the episode "
Black Sun", playing a character called Michael Ryan. In 1975 he guest-starred in a TV episode of
The Sweeney ("Chalk and Cheese") as Tommy Garret, a boxer-turned-
highwayman. In 1976 he performed the role of
Juan Peron on the original concept album of
Tim Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical
Evita alongside
Julie Covington as Eva,
Colm Wilkinson as Che and
Barbara Dickson as the Mistress. Jones had previously worked with Covington in the 1975 Christmas production
Great Big Groovy Horse, a rock opera based on the story of the
Trojan Horse shown on
BBC2. It was later repeated on
BBC1 in 1977. He also presented the BBC1 children's quiz
Beat the Teacher in the mid-1980s. His
gold albums include one for
Evita. In October 1977, he starred as
Sir Francis Drake in the musical premiere of ''Drake's Dream'' at the
Connaught Theatre, Worthing featuring music and lyrics by Lynne and Richard Riley and book by
Simon Brett. The production was directed by Nicolas Young and transferred to London's
Shaftesbury Theatre for a limited season opening on 7 December 1977. The ''Drake's Dream'' Original London Cast Album was recorded by
President Records in 1977 and released on CD in 2017 by
Stage Door Records. He played the harmonica on his programme's Radio 2 jingle. In 1987, he starred as Fred/Petruchio with
Nichola McAuliffe as Lilli/Kate in the
Royal Shakespeare Company's successful production of
Kiss Me Kate both at the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre,
Stratford-upon-Avon, and the
Old Vic Theatre, London.
1990s From 1990 to 1993, Jones starred as the title character of
Uncle Jack, a children's programme on BBC 1, which also featured
Fenella Fielding as Jack's adversary; The Vixen. His character was Jack Green, an
environmentalist and undercover agent for MI5, who with his family are on a mission to save the planet.
The Manfreds In 1991, Jones formed
the Manfreds with most of the original members of Manfred Mann, to both celebrate McGuinness' 50th birthday and a new Manfred Mann compilation album. This new band did not include
Manfred Mann himself, meaning they couldn't tour under the name and "The Manfreds" was born. Jones still tours in the Manfreds with McGuinness and d'Abo.
2000s and onwards In 2009, he issued
Starting All Over Again on Continental Record Services (aka CRS) in Europe and Collectors' Choice in the US. In 2010 he featured on two versions of "You’re Wrong" from Nick Vernier Band's
Sessions album. In 2013, 2014, and 2016, the Manfreds toured to promote a new Manfred Mann compilation album. In 2015 he released an album
Suddenly I Like It, also produced by Carla Olson. Special guests on this album included Joe Bonamassa and
Jools Holland. , in
Chatham, 2021 Jones is currently the president of the
HarmonicaUK(formally the National Harmonica League) and was awarded "harmonica player of the year" in the
British Blues Awards of 2010, 2011 and 2012, as well as Blues Broadcaster of the year and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2011. In January 2018 it was announced that he would be replaced as presenter of BBC Radio 2's
Blues Show by
Cerys Matthews in mid-May. His last broadcast as presenter was on 23 April 2018; his live guest was
Eric Bibb and his last song played was
Sonny Boy Williamson's "Mighty Long Time" (1951) which he described as "one of my handful of most favourite blues records." He performed in the December 2023 edition of ''
Jools' Annual Hootenanny''. In 2025, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to music and the harmonica, by
HarmonicaUK ==Personal life==