Billy Jones (William Reese Jones)

William Reese Jones (March 15, 1889 - November 23, 1940) was a tenor who recorded during the 1920s and 1930s, finding fame as a radio star on The Happiness Boys radio program.

Billy Jones worked in such occupations as mining, banking and blacksmithing before his 1918 recording debut. He recorded with the Cleartone Four, the Crescent Trio, the Harmonizers Quartet and the Premier Quartet, and he performed under a variety of names (Harry Blake, Billy Clarke, Lester George, Duncan Jones, Reese Jones, John Kelley, Dennis O'Malley, William Rees, Victor Roberts, Billy West, William West and Carlton Williams).

After he met Ernie Hare in 1919, they teamed in 1920 when Brunswick executive Gus Haenschen had them sing an accompaniment on a Brunswick recording. They went on to do numerous recordings together for Brunswick, Edison and other companies.

They began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey). Sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores, they were heard on The Happiness Boys program beginning August 22, 1923 on New York's WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929. As the Happiness Boys, they sang popular tunes, mostly light fare and comic songs, and they joked with one another between numbers.

By 1928, they were the highest paid singers in radio, earning $1,250 a week. The partnership ended with Hare's death on March 9, 1939. Jones continued to perform, teaming with Hare's 16-year-old daughter, Marilyn Hare, in 1939-40. He died November 23, 1940.

Another Billy Jones:

Not much is known about the Billy Jones who both wrote and recorded a disco release entitled "We Want Peace." His name was hardly as distinctive as Billy Ocean, who washed in with pretty much the same musical tide. He is not the same Jones who worked with the Sugarhill Gang, and from the song title it can be assumed he was not bringing a message from either of the George Bush administrations. "We Want Peace" has shown up on several huge collections of disco, sharing space with more hedonistic philosophies such as "Get Up and Move Your Body" and "Fox With a Box."

Discography: