
This is a reader contributed guest post from Tom Leo of You Know You Got Soul.
GFM has been big supporters of Donell, so we’re pleased to share this interview with you. Special thanks to Tom for conducting this interview.
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Today I caught up with r&b legend Donell Jones to discuss everything from his TWO upcoming albums, to his collaboration with Big Pun, to the state of R&B music today. One thing I will say about Donell is he has always stayed true to his roots and made timeless r&b music. In speaking with him, I can definitely see that he “gets it” in terms of understanding the importance of making this type of music.
YouKnowIGotSoul: From an early age you began writing songs, and eventually started writing for other artists. How were you able to be successful in writing and where did you draw your inspiration from?
Donell Jones: I think I was able to be successful in writing because I came up around a lot of great songwriters. Like for instance, Kenny Green who wrote a lot of the Mary J. Blige stuff. He was on the Untouchables staff at that time, so I kinda learned a lot from those guys and I think that’s why I was successful with my song writing. Plus I came from Chicago and everybody that I met was in New York, so I came with a different flavor than most of the New York songwriters had.
YNIGS: Did you always want to get into music, or was there ever something else you had in mind for a career?
DJ: You know what man, to be honest with you, that’s all I really wanted to do my whole life, was to make music and just create new stuff, like new songs, and just be a singer man.
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