Ronald Neal Jones (born July 7, 1954) is an American composer. He has composed music for various television shows like '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''

DuckTales DuckTales refers to: Film and television * ''DuckTales'' (1987 TV series), original TV series ** '' DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp'' * ''DuckTales'' (2017 TV series), reboot TV series Video games * ''DuckTales'' (video game) ...

'', ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...

'', and ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

''. Along with the creator of ''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two Fairy godmother, fairy godparents named List of The Fai ...

'', Butch Hartman, he composed the show's theme song and music for its episodes. He currently resides in

Stanwood, Washington Stanwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The city is located north of Seattle, at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River near Camano Island. As of the 2020 United States ...

, where he owns Sky Muse studios, a recording facility designed for music recording and post-production.

Early life and career

Jones was born in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

. He, along with his younger brother David, founded the Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps in 1971, where Ron served as the composer, arranger, and drill designer. After completing his degree in music composition and music theory, he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to pursue further education at the Dick Grove School of Music. Ron studied under the guidance of Academy and Emmy Award-nominated composer

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

, who asked him to copy a concerto for guitar and orchestra. While attending Dick Grove, Ron composed a movie for NBC and began writing music for a television series produced by

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

. He also arranged and composed the theme songs of ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

'' and '' The Snorks''. Ron later joined the composing team of

Mike Post Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil; September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his television theme music for various shows, including '' The White Shadow''; ''Law & Order''; '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''; ''The A-Tea ...

and

Pete Carpenter Clarence Edward "Pete" Carpenter (April 1, 1914 – October 18, 1987) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and veteran of television theme music sheet music. After a long career playing the trombone in bands and as a studio musician, Carp ...

, where he worked on various popular television series such as ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

'', '' Magnum, P.I.'', and ''

Hardcastle and McCormick ''Hardcastle and McCormick'' is an American action crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 18, 1983, through May 5, 1986. The series stars Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and r ...

''. In 1987, he was recruited by

Disney Music The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

President Chris Montan to compose music for Disney's first syndicated cartoon series, ''

''.

''Star Trek: The Next Generation''

Jones composed the music for 42 episodes of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' during the first four seasons (1987–1991). However, at the beginning of the fourth season, the producers decided to replace Jones with other composers. Jones has since been a vocal critic of

Rick Berman Richard Keith Berman (born December 25, 1945) is an American television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as the executive producer of several of the ''Star Trek'' television series: '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', '' ...

-era ''Star Trek''''Cinefantastique'' magazine, Oct. 1993 and has stated that the music in the subsequent spin-offs is less melodic and more electronic in nature. Interview: Ron Jones, Question 12; ''Star Trek Soundtracks'

; Published: December 2002; Accessed: 11 October 2009 He once stated in an interview that he believed the theme for the series '' Star Trek: Enterprise, Enterprise would have been more suitable for the opening ceremonies of the WNBA.Interview: Ron Jones, Question 13; ''Star Trek Soundtracks''

; Published: December 2002; Accessed: 11 October 2009

''Family Guy''

Jones created music for the first 12 seasons (1999–2014) of ''

''. Jones, with various other music and lyric collaborators, has received four Emmy nominations for his work on this series: Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics#2000s, 2000 ("We Only Live to Kiss Your A*s" aka "This House is Freakin' Sweet", from " Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater") and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

("Christmastime is Killing Us", from " Road to the North Pole"); Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

(" Lois Kills Stewie") and

("Road to the North Pole"). His collaborative work on the series also earned a Grammy nomination for 2012's Best Song Written for a Visual Media ("Christmastime is Killing Us"). For the two-part episodes of " Stewie Kills Lois and Lois Kills Stewie", Jones paid homage to his own music from a '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' two-part episode, " The Best of Both Worlds" and used parodies of two cues. The piece which originally appeared when Locutus of

Borg The Borg are an alien group that appear as recurring antagonists in the ''Star Trek'' fictional universe. They are Cyborg, cybernetic organisms (cyborgs) linked in a Group mind (science fiction), hive mind called "The Collective". The Borg co- ...

first appears is reused when

Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...

reappears in "Lois Kills Stewie". These parodied cues are available on Jones' website.

Awards

* 2003 BMI Film and TV Awards: Main Title Theme * 2002 BMI Film and TV Awards: Main Title Theme * 1991 NAIRD Award: Best Soundtrack Album of the Year * 1988 Emmy Awards: Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Series (contributions)

Television scores

*''

'' (1987–1988),

Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA; also shortened to Disney TVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is an American animation production company that serves as the television a ...

*'' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1991),

Paramount Domestic Television Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the television arm of Paramount Pictures. It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Televis ...

*''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' (1988),

*''

'' (1999–2014),

Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...

*''

'' (theme song) (2001–2017),

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

Frederator Studios Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio founded by Fred Seibert in January 1997. It is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc., itself a part of Kartoon Studios' Canadian holding company Wow Unlimited Media. T ...

*''

'' (2005–2009, left to focus on ''Family Guy'', replaced by

Joel McNeely Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, musician, lyricist, and record producer. A protégé of composer Jerry Goldsmith, he is best known for his film and television scores. He won the Primetime Emmy Aw ...

), Fox Broadcasting Company

Selected discography

* ''Star Trek - The Next Generation: Music from the Original Television Soundtrack, Volume Two (The Best of Both Worlds)'' ( GNP Crescendo) * "''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' - The Ron Jones Project (1987–1999)" released by

Film Score Monthly ''Film Score Monthly'' is an online magazine (and former print magazine) founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as ''The Soundtrack Correspondence List''. It is dedicated to the art of film and television sc ...

. * "Superman" (1988 Hanna-Barbera animated series), disc 7 of ''Superman: The Music (1978–1988)'', released by

. * ''The Best of Star Trek: 30th Anniversary Special'' (tracks 6 & 7: Suite from "Heart of Glory") (GNP Crescendo) * '' Scooby-Doo's Snack Tracks: The Ultimate Collection'' (two tracks)

References

External links

Ron Jones Productions
*

The Influence Jazz Orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ron 1954 births Living people American film score composers American television composers Nickelodeon people