Steve Jones

Stephen Phillip Jones (b. May 3, 1955) is an English rock and roll guitarist and singer, best known for his work as guitarist for the punk band Sex Pistols.

Career
Steve Jones was born in Shepherd's Bush, London. Steve has stated that his style of guitar-playing is derived from that of Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and his early influences were glam rock icons like Roxy Music and David Bowie. He was an only child and his father, an amateur boxer, left when he was two years old.

Up to the age of twelve, he grew up in Hammersmith with his young mother, who worked as a hairdresser, and his grandparents. He then moved to Benbow Road in Shepherd's Bush with his mother and stepfather, where they lived in a one-bedroom basement. Jones never got along with his stepfather, who made his living making gaskets for electric cookers: “He was an arsehole. I was just extra baggage.” As a teenager, Jones was a kleptomaniac who accumulated 14 different criminal convictions and was the subject of a council care-order. He spent a year in a remand centre, which he says was more enjoyable than being at home, and has said that the Sex Pistols saved him from a life of crime.

Steve co-founded The Strand (named after a Roxy Music song) with Paul Cook and Wally Nightingale in the early 1970s. The Strand were a precursor to the Sex Pistols, where Steve first learned to play guitar and honed his rudimentary musical talents. After dropping Wally in the mid-70s, his band was known as The Swankers.

In 1975, Steve went on to co-found the Sex Pistols with Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, and later, Johnny Rotten. Although they only released one album, the Sex Pistols went on to become one of the most influential rock and roll bands of the 20th century,.

Steve is a self-taught guitar player, primarily playing Gibson Les Paul electric guitars in his early years, His usual guitar was a cream colored Gibson Les Paul custom which (according to "Filth and the Fury") he had stolen from Mick Ronson at a David Bowie concert when he and his fellow Sex Pistol members posed as road crew members, stealing amps and other equipment. Bill Price, the engineer on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols has called Steve one of the tightest guitar players he has ever worked with, implying that his chord and note timing were precise and impeccable. It cannot be understated that Steve understood how to obtain fabulous tones from his guitar and amplifier combination. This talent for tone combined with his musical precision and simplicity gave Steve his unique guitar sound which is often emulated and sought after by his fans and followers.

After the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Steve and drummer Paul Cook co-founded the hard rock outfit The Professionals. They released one album, but disbanded after a serious car crash while on tour in the US in 1981. Ironically, the title of The Professionals' debut album was I Didn't See It Coming. Steve was a also a member of Chequered Past (led by Michael Des Barres) from 1982 to 1985. They released a self-titled album in 1984.

Steve also played with Thin Lizzy, Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Andy Taylor, the Neurotic Outsiders and had a solo career in the 1980s and early 1990s. His song "Mercy", from the album of the same name, was used in a Miami Vice episode featured on the Miami Vice II soundtrack album. In 1989, he released his second, much heavier-sounding solo album, titled "Fire and Gasoline", which featured Steve on guitar and vocals, Terry Nails on bass, and studio drum wizard Mickey Curry (Bryan Adams, Hall & Oates). He participated in the Sex Pistols reunion concerts and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. He has since done some studio work, playing guitar on the Insane Clown Posse's 1997 rap-metal record, The Great Milenkoand Lisa Marie Presley's 2005 album, Now What.

Jonesy's Jukebox
In February 2004, Jones began hosting a daily radio program in Los Angeles called Jonesy's Jukebox, on Indie 103.1 FM, broadcasting live Monday to Friday from noon to 2PM. The premise of the show is that the self-described "Sire of Wilshire" can do whatever he wants (within FCC rules), with no direction from station management. Far from an angry punk with access to a transmitter, Jones is an entertaining host who mixes an eclectic playlist (culled from his own collection of CDs) with often (intentional) rambling and humorous interviews of guests from all walks of the entertainment industry. He frequently interacts on-air with "Mister Shovel," his nickname for program producer Mark Sovel.

Partial discography

 * Mercy (MCA, 1987)
 * Fire and Gasoline (MCA, 1989)

Partial filmography

 * The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980)
 * Punk and Its Aftershocks (1980)
 * D.O.A. (1980)
 * Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981)
 * Mascara  (1999)
 * Four Dogs Playing Poker (2000)
 * The Filth and the Fury  (2000)
 * 25 Years of Punk (2001)
 * Classic Albums: Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (2002)
 * Hooligans & Thugs: Soccer's Most Violent Fan Fights (2003)
 * Punk: Attitude (2005)