Jack Jones dead at 86: Grammy-winning singer passes away

Grammy-award winning Jack Jones, who sang the iconic Love Boat theme song, has died at age 86.

The singer and actor passed Wednesday night, his family announced, according to KESQ.

His stepdaughter Nicole Whitty shared with The Hollywood Reporter that Jones died following a two-year battle with leukemia. He passed at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage, California, she shared. 

In addition to the Love Boat theme song, Jones has also released the popular tracks Wives and Lovers and Lollipops and Roses.

Jones earned two Grammy awards during his career and made frequent appearance on variety shows throughout the 60s and 70s, according to KESQ.

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On top of singing, Jones was also an actor with credits in 1982's Airplane II: The Sequel and 2013's American Hustle.

A long time resident of the Coachella Valley, Jones received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 2003. 

'Because of The Love Boat theme, everything was great on ships after that,' he told Las Vegas Magazine during a 2016 interview. 'I did six weeks a year. They gave me the best suite on the ship, and it was the S.S. Norway. We just had a great time.' 

Showbusiness ran in Jones' blood - his mother Irene Hervey was an actress with decades of film and TV experience, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was even nominated for an Emmy.

Jones' father, Allan Jones, was also an actor and singer behind the track The Donkey Serenade.

The Love Boat song was released as a single by Jones in 1979, according to THR.

And the singer didn't mind poking fun at the love song from time to time - in Airplane II: The Sequel, he briefly made a humorous appearance as a lounge singer performing the track.

'So it’s not the greatest song in the world,' Jones once shared with a reporter, according to the Washington Post. 'But I think just about every singer would like to have a song with which they’re identified.'

The show aired from 1977 to 1987 and his voice served as the theme for the first eight seasons until Dionne Warwick's vocals were used for season nine.  

Jones won his first Grammy for best male solo vocal performance in 1964 for Lollipops and Roses, which peaked at No. 12 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, according to THR.

His second Grammy came with the 1942 track Wives and Lovers, a song he says really helped launch his career. 

'The people at Kapp Records, for whom I was recording then, put the tune on the B side of the single, but disc jockeys turned it over and played it anyway,' he told the Los Angeles Times in 1993.

He even received praise from Frank Sinatra, with the legendary crooner calling him the 'next major star of show business' in the 60s - a remark Jones interpreted to mean he was his heir apparent, according to Washington Post.

'I was thrilled,' he told the The Guardian in 2002. 'There was only one problem: he never retired. When a guy reaches that level of fame, there's no elbowing him out. A lot of us weren't willing to give up what Frank did to achieve his mystique. 

'I wasn't worried about having some great babe on my arm, but that's important if you wanna be a star,' he said. 

Jones' prolific career saw him release 50 albums and he was also nominated for a Grammy for The Impossible Dream. 

His vocals can also be heard on other soundtracks - he's contributed to the likes of Good Morning, Vietnam, Goodfellas, Reckless, Bobby, Duplex, and for the film he appeared in, American Hustle, according to THR.

He remained a fixture on stage - he was still performing after he turned 80, according to THR. The outlet also reports he headlined in Las Vegas for seven decades. 

Jones has been married six times, according to THR. He was wedded to actress Jill St. John for just over a year in the 60s and had a four-year-long relationship with actress Susan George in the 70s, according to Washington Post.

He is survived by his wife Eleonora, his daughter from his first marriage Crystal Jones, his daughter from his fifth marriage, Nicole Ramasco, stepdaughters Nicoly and Colette Peters in addition to three grandchildren, according to Washington Post.