John Paul Jones (musician)

He started playing piano when he was six, learning from his father, Joe Baldwin, a pianist and arranger for big bands in the 1940s and 1950s, notably with Ambrose and his Orchestra.

His mother was also in the music business which allowed the family to often perform together touring around England as a vaudeville comedy act.

His influences ranged from the blues of Big Bill Broonzy, the jazz of Charles Mingus, to the classical piano of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Because his parents often toured, Baldwin was sent to boarding school at a young age.

He was a student at Christ's College, Blackheath, London where he studied music formally.

John Baldwin (born 3 January 1946), better known by his stage name John Paul Jones, is an English musician, composer, and record producer who was the bassist and keyboardist for the rock band Led Zeppelin.

John Baldwin was born in Sidcup, Kent, on 3 January 1946.

This name was suggested to him by a friend, Andrew Loog Oldham, who had seen a poster for the 1959 film John Paul Jones in France.

At the age of 14, Baldwin became choirmaster and organist at a local church and during that year, he also bought his first bass guitar, a Dallas Tuxedo solid body electric followed by multiple basses which he part exchanged until he finally bought his 1962 Fender Jazz Bass which he used until 1976.

The fluid playing of Chicago musician Phil Upchurch on his You Can't Sit Down LP, which includes a memorable bass solo, is cited by Jones as being his inspiration to take up the instrument.

Baldwin joined his first band, The Deltas, at the age of 15.

He then played bass for jazz-rock London group, Jett Blacks, a collective that included guitarist John McLaughlin.

His big break came in 1962, when he was hired by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan of the successful British group the Shadows for a two-year stint.

Shortly before hiring Baldwin, Harris and Meehan had just had a number 1 hit with "Diamonds" (a track on which Jones' bandmate-to-be Jimmy Page had played).

Baldwin's collaboration with the Shadows nearly prevented the future formation of Led Zeppelin, when the parties engaged in talks about the possibility of Baldwin replacing their bassist Brian Locking, who left the band in October 1963, but John Rostill was ultimately chosen to fill the position.

In 1964, on the recommendation of Meehan, Baldwin began studio session work with Decca Records.

He released his first solo recording as John Paul Jones, "Baja" (written by Lee Hazlewood and produced by Oldham) / "A Foggy Day in Vietnam", as a single on Pye Records in April 1964.

Jones has stated that, as a session musician, he was completing two or three sessions a day, working six or seven days a week.

In June 1966, Page joined The Yardbirds, and in 1967 Jones contributed to that band's Little Games album.

The following winter, during the sessions for Donovan's The Hurdy Gurdy Man, Jones expressed to Page a desire to be part of any projects the guitarist might be planning.

Later that year, The Yardbirds disbanded, leaving Page and bassist Chris Dreja to complete previously booked Yardbirds dates in Scandinavia.

Before a new band could be assembled, Dreja left to take up photography.

Jones, at the suggestion of his wife, asked Page about the vacant position, and the guitarist eagerly invited Jones to collaborate.

Page later explained:

"I was working at the sessions for Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, and John Paul Jones was looking after the musical arrangements. During a break, he asked me if I could use a bass player in the new group I was forming. He had a proper music training, and he had quite brilliant ideas. I jumped at the chance of getting him."

Vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham joined the two to form a quartet.

In 1967, Most, as music supervisor, also tasked Jones with arranging the music for Herman's Hermits' theatrical film Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter, released in January 1968.

Such was the extent of Jones' studio work – amounting to hundreds of sessions – that he said years later that "I can't remember three-quarters of the sessions I was on."

It was during his time as a session player that Baldwin adopted the stage name John Paul Jones.

Prior to forming the band with Jimmy Page in 1968, he was a session musician and arranger.

From then until 1968, he played on hundreds of recording sessions.

He soon expanded his studio work by playing keyboards, arranging and undertaking general studio direction, resulting in his services coming under much demand.

He worked with numerous artists including the Rolling Stones on Their Satanic Majesties Request (Jones' string arrangement is heard on "She's a Rainbow"); Herman's Hermits; Donovan (on "Sunshine Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man", and "Mellow Yellow"); Jeff Beck; Françoise Hardy; Cat Stevens; Rod Stewart; Shirley Bassey; Lulu; and numerous others.

As well as recording sessions with Dusty Springfield, Jones also played bass for her Talk of the Town series of performances.

His arranging and playing on Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" resulted in producer Mickie Most using his services as choice arranger for many of his own projects, with Tom Jones, Nico, Wayne Fontana, the Walker Brothers, and many others.

However, by 1968 he was feeling burned out by the heavy workload: "I was arranging 50 or 60 things a month and it was starting to kill me."

During his time as a session player, Jones often crossed paths with guitarist Jimmy Page, a fellow session veteran.

After the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, Led Zeppelin disbanded, and Jones developed a solo career.

He has collaborated with musicians across a variety of genres, including the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and Alain Johannes.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as a member of Led Zeppelin.