Oran "Juice" Jones

Jones was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Harlem, New York.

Jones was the first musician signed to OBR Records, a subsidiary of Def Jam (which is now part of Universal Music Group) and thus the very first R&B artist ever to sign to, much more record, for a record label oriented towards rap and/or hip hop at a time when rap and R&B were two so completely separate entities that it was then considered practically an insult to associate any rap artists with any genre remotely resembling R&B, whose "soothing" sounds clashed with hip hop's rebellious edge. Jones's signing with Def Jam's OBR subsidiary signaled a partnership between the two genres that continued as of early December 2016.

His song "The Rain" became a hit in 1986, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] It ranks him on VH1's top 100 One Hit Wonders of the 80's.[2] He followed it with "How to Love Again," a duet with labelmate Alyson Williams.

Jones earned two Grammy nominations for "The Rain" and released two more albums, but failed to have significant follow-up success. Two of his children, his son Oran II, who has also gone by Mookie, and his daughter Perri, followed their father into the music business.

Jones collaborated twice with porn star turned singer, Midori. In 1997 they record a duet of "Let's Stay Together" for his album Player's Call[3] and Jones appeared on Midori's single "5,10,15,20" on the Porn to Rock compilation album released in 1999.[4]

• Oran "Juice" Jones at AllMusic
• Soulwalking page
• SoulInStereo.com's update page, "Whatever Happened To...," on Oran "Juice" Jones, contributed by Edward Bowser on November 19, 2013