Richard Jones

Linked romantically with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, getting to back up the sexy Atomic Kitten trio...who wouldn't want to carry around Richard Jones' bass case, not to mention hide with it underneath his bed at night? He is best known since the late '90s as a member of the Stereophonics band, for whom he also toodles on harmonica. Although not related by family, group members Richard Jones and Kelly Jones were school chums in Cwmaman (sic), South Wales, first performing together in the Tragic Love Company. The roots of the two fellows can best be summed up as a combination of the Wales mining town environs and the fact that at eight years old they were cool enough to dress up as Angus Young and Malcolm Young for a costume party.

As a teenager, Jones was something of a reactionary, choosing groups such as Blind Melon and the Stone Temple Pilots in order to irritate his older brothers who were obsessed with genres such as punk and ska. He was working as a coal delivery boy and apparently decided that the bass might represent a way of upgrading his employment possibilities. According to band histories, the other members decided on him because of his hairstyle, not his abilities on bass. Eventually he must have learned how to play, unless later employers such as Tom Jones had the same hiring criteria. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide