Rickie Lee Jones To Tour

Rickie Lee Jones will perform a number of additional shows in Australia as well as her performance at Sydney’s Vivid Festival.

Jones tour comes on the back of her fourteenth studio album Balm In Gilead (2009) but she has stated that there will be plenty of songs from her storied history.

That history commenced in Los Angeles in the late 70’s. A four-song demo of material was circulated around the L.A. music scene in 1978  and it  came to the attention of Lenny Waronker, producer and executive at Warner Bros. Records.

Jones was signed to the label, and work commenced on her debut album, co-produced by Waronker and Russ Titelman. Jones was courted by the major labels, and chose Waronker because of his work with Randy Newman, and because, she said, she had a vision of standing in his office the moment she saw his name on the back of Newman’s Sail Away album.

Rickie Lee Jones was released in March 1979 and became a hit, buoyed by the success of the jazz-flavored single “Chuck E.’s in Love”. The album, which included guest appearances by Dr. John, Randy Newman, and Michael McDonald, went to US #3 on the Billboard 200 and produced another US Top 40 hit with “Young Blood” (#40) in late 1979.

Following a successful world tour, the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Jones secured five nominations at the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, Song of the Year (“Chuck E.’s in Love”), and Best New Artist, which she won at the January 1980 ceremony. She was also voted Best Jazz Singer by Playboy magazine’s critic and reader polls. Jones was covered by Time magazine on her very first professional show, in Boston, and they dubbed her “The Duchess of Coolsville.”

She went on to release a diverse and interesting collection of albums.

* Rickie Lee Jones – (1979)
* Pirates – (1981)
* Girl at Her Volcano (EP) – (1983)
* The Magazine – (1984)
* Flying Cowboys – (1989)
* Pop Pop – (1991)
* Traffic from Paradise – (1993)
* Naked Songs – Live And Acoustic – (1995)
* Ghostyhead – (1997)
* It’s Like This – (2000)
* Live at Red Rocks – (2001)
* The Evening of My Best Day – (2003)
* Rickie Lee Jones: Duchess of Coolsville – (2005)
* The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard – February 2007
* Balm in Gilead – November 2009

Rickie Lee Jones will be performing in a trio format with electric bassist Jose Maramba and drummer/keyboardist Lionel Cole.
Dates

26 May  – Concert Hall, Perth, WA
28 May  – Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, NSW
1 June  – Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, SA
3 June  – Forum Theatre, Melbourne, VIC

Tickets for all shows except Sydney are on sale April 12 at 9am.