Jack Jones, the singer best known for his smooth rendition of “The Love Boat” theme song and the 1966 hit “The Impossible Dream,” has died at 86 after a two-year battle with leukemia.
He died Wednesday night at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage, California, his stepdaughter Nicole Whitty told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.
Jones had already won two Grammys — for 1962’s “Lollipops and Roses” and 1964’s “Wives and Lovers”— by the time he recorded the TV theme for the 1977 Aaron Spelling hit that came to define his career. The immortal lyrics, “Love, exciting and new, come aboard/we’re expecting you,” were penned by singer/songwriter Paul Williams, with music by Charles Fox.
The singer later gamely lip-synced the song in a cameo as a lounge singer in the disaster movie spoof “Airplane II.”
Jones’ parents were also both in showbiz: His mother, Irene Hervey, an actress whose career spanned 50 years, was Emmy-nominated for a guest appearance on “My Three Sons.” His father, Allan Jones, was the romantic tenor in films including the 1936 version of “Show Boat” and two Marx Brothers movies.
John Allan Jones was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 1938, the same day, he said, that his father recorded his own hit song “Donkey Serenade” for RCA Victor.
He got his start as a teenager, joining his dad onstage at the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The two later appeared as father and son in a 1980 episode of “The Love Boat.”
Jones’ other big hit was 1966’s “The Impossible Dream” from the Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha,” which earned him another Grammy nomination.
His songs appeared on the soundtracks for “Goodfellas,” “Bobby” and David O. Russell’s 1970s-set “American Hustle,” in which he had a cameo performing “I’ve Got Your Number.”
“I never expected that,” the singer said in 2014 of the acclaim he got for his brief scene. “It’s about the beginning of [the characters’] life together, which is very meaningful, so I’m lucky in that respect. I told David O. Russell, ‘I’m glad you didn’t show me any more than you did because then it would have become a Doris Day movie.’”
In 1993, Jones summed up his career thus far to the Los Angeles Times, saying, “I want a song to make the audience laugh or make it cry, make a very poignant statement.”
The entertainer, who was married six times, is survived by stepdaughter Nicole; wife Eleonara; daughters Crystal and Nicole; stepdaughter Colette; and grandchildren Grace, Mercer and Agnes.
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