Donell Jones Central Park Summerstage 2013-5

Donell Jones is an artist that we’ve greatly admired for all of his contributions to r&b since the mid 90’s, so for that reason we were very excited to get this list. As part of our Artist Top 10 feature, Donell Jones picks his top 10 favorite songs he’s recorded, and gives the reason behind each. With so many hits under his belt through the years, it was obvious this wouldn’t be any easy choice for him, and sure enough it wasn’t. Check out what Donell chose.

“Where I Wanna Be” – The reason for that song is it was definitely a true story, something I was living at the time and that’s the reason why it’s my most favorite song of all of them.

“I Want You To Know” – That was on my first album and the reason I chose that song is because I was rather new in the music business and I was really trying out some different sounds and I stumbled along that particular record. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but it actually came out pretty good, so that’s another one of my favorites.

“The Finer Things in Life” – This is another record that I absolutely love and the reason why is because it just fits me so well. It was written and produced by Mike City and our styles gel pretty well, so that’s another record that I absolutely love.

“Portrait of a Woman” – That is because I was in a relationship with a young lady and I really didn’t do the right thing and that’s the reason why I wrote that particular song.

”Where You Are (Is Where I Wanna Be)(Part 2)” – That’s another one of my favorites and that’s because after I wrote “Where I Wanna Be” I felt so bad that I had to go back and do another version. But the situation didn’t change, I still felt the same way though.

“Life Goes On” – It’s another one of my favorites and the reason why is because I have a brother that’s in prison and I know his life is so difficult for him with not being able to see his family and I just felt like I wanted to write a song that kinda touched on that.

Damn there’s so many songs that I have that I absolutely love…

“All About the Sex” – This is another record I love, it just has a newer sound but it has all of the characteristics of what I’ve done in the past. The reason why I like it so much is because of the ambience of the record, it has a lot of nuances that I hadn’t tried before and I just love the way it came out.

“U Know What’s Up” – Actually I didn’t like the record at first, I hated it, but after it became a hit, I loved it! *Laughs* So I gotta say “U Know What’s Up.”

“Shorty Got Her Eyes On Me” – That one because it’s got nothing but swag, it’s all about the swag. Boy meets girl and the rest, he wants to take her to the hotel and do his thing, so I love that record.

“Forever” – The last one is “Forever” which is a record from my “Lost Files” album and I recorded back in ’95 and was recorded with a young lady by the name of Mary Brown. It’s just really about love, it’s about finding someone who you absolutely love, you have the utmost respect for and you just want to spend the rest of your life with. I think we all search for something like that, so that’s why I love that record.