Charlie Jones (musician)

Charlie Jones
Years active	1981–
Status	Active
Origin	London, England
Music genre(s)	rock, jazz fusion, Electronic music|electronic

Stephen Charles Jones (known as Charlie Jones, born 1963) is an English bassist, and music producer. Jones was born in Bristol, England, and began playing the bass guitar at age 13.

Career

As a teenager he played in local bands before being asked by friends to help record their eponymous single 'Recorded Delivery', in 1981. Jones also attended Robert Plant's performance for the music television programme The Tube at Milton Keynes on 22 June 1983 (which was eventually canned due to Plant's disappointment with the sound quality). Jones then formed gothic rock band Violent Blue with guitarist Neil Taylor (Tears for Fears) releasing a single and album with Magnet records.

When Bill Curbishley took over management of Robert Plant's post-Led Zeppelin solo career in August 1986, one of the first decisions they made was to assemble a far younger line-up for Plant to perform and record with. In the summer of 1987, Jones was invited to join Plant's band, who were in the middle of recording Now and Zen at Swanyard Studios in London dockland's, replacing bass player Phil Scragg who was unavailable to tour. To date, Jones remains the longest continuous serving musician in any Robert Plant led line-up, staying with him until Plant formed Priory of Brion in July 1999. He is not related to musician John Paul Jones.

On 18 May 1991, Jones married Plant's daughter Carmen Plant, at St. Peter's Church, Kidderminster. Their wedding reception was held in a series of marquees at Robert's farm at Kidderminster. Roy Harper's song 'Evening Star' was written for Carmen for the occasion. They have three children, their eldest a daughter named Sunny Plant-Jones (born 1993), with the family now residing in Bath, Somerset.

Jones was also a member of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's backing group for their recordings and tours, and Plant's Strange Sensation band. He helped co-write the song 'Please Read the Letter', that appeared on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album Raising Sand, which won Record of the Year at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009.

Since 2003, Jones has been a member of Goldfrapp, and has gone into music production and session work for other artists. Jones released his debut solo album Love Form (Stranger Records), on 16 September 2013, which highlighted his jazz and classical influences. Strange Sensation's keyboard player John Baggott and drummer Clive Deamer, along with singer Allison Goldfrapp contributed to the recording.