Barbara Tamiko Ferguson was born in
Kyle, West Virginia, and is of part Japanese, British, and
Cherokee descent. Her middle name,
Tamiko, is of Japanese origin. She was raised in Detroit where she first started singing she made her professional debut in a club in 1961. She began her career performing pop songs in a
jazz style. She moved to the
Atco label, where she recorded "Rhapsody" as
Tamiko in 1964. By 1966 she had moved to the
Golden World label, recording "I'm Spellbound". Next she moved to
Atlantic Records, where she released several singles during 1967, including "Boy You're Growing On Me". That year, she also recorded the album
A Mann and a Woman with jazz
flutist Herbie Mann. During the 1960s, she also appeared as an
extra in several movies. Wisner had arranged and conducted a number of the tracks on
A Mann And A Woman, this resulted in the album
Tamiko, released in February 1968. In 1968, after being hospitalized with
polio, she met singer
Solomon Burke, and they recorded several duets. Jones became Burke's fiancée and manager for a time, and co-produced his cover of the
Creedence Clearwater Revival hit single "
Proud Mary". She also recorded the album ''I'll Be Anything For You'', arranged by
Artie Butler, produced by
Creed Taylor's for his
CTI label, an imprint of
A&M Records at the time. All the tracks were short, radio format and resulted in two singles,
Ya Ya / Goodnight My Love and
Goodnight, My Love / Please Return Your Love To Me. The recording sessions for the album were held in two studios - In June, with Solomon Burke, at the
Sam Phillips Phillips Recording studio and in September at the
Van Gelder Studio. In 1969 her album
In Muscle Shoals was issued on the
Metromedia label. In 1977, "Cloudy", on the Atlantis label, made no. 92 on the R&B chart, and in 1979 her version of "Can't Live Without Your Love", written and arranged by Randy Muller of
Brass Construction and issued on the
Polydor label, reached no. 70 on the same chart. Her last R&B chart hit was a version of
Marvin Gaye's "
I Want You", recorded on the Sutra label and which made no. 81 in 1986. Jones vocal tracks continue to be popular today and receive regular remixes and edits. In April 2024, her track "Let It Flow", from the 1976 album
Cloudy was remixed by
Disco Dandies and released on the
High Fashion Music label. ==Discography==