John Jones' whole life has been centered around music. He heard The Beatles and Rufus & Chaka Khan from the time he was born. He had his first record player at age two. His first records? Not Mary Had a Little Lamb or Sesame Street...try The Ronettes, Beach Boys, and Heart. He started studying piano at age nine. After a pre-teen fling with Top 40 pop, he discovered R&B and jazz in high school, and shifted his piano training to classical. His 20's and 30's led him to electronica as well as the singer-songwriter movement of the 60's and 70's. These days, his influences are so varied, the best genre John can come up with for his music is...well, "music." After the triumph of R&B diva Maysa recording his ballad "Everything" for her 2002 album "Out of the Blue," John's songwriting muse started working overtime: his catalog of originals is nearing the 50-song mark. A dozen of those tunes are featured on his independent debut album, "Homegrown." The CD is available on iTunes, cdbaby.com, and indierhythm.com. When he's not recording or rehearsing songs for various piano bar shows around Chicago, John can be found working out at Cheetah Gym, challenging friends at Mario Kart, or relaxing with an episode of The Simpsons, Roseanne, or Saturday Night Live.