“This is my love album.”įittingly, Donell Jones Forever, which is scheduled for release in June, takes listeners on a journey filled with tantalizing tunes that evoke warmth, romance and maturity. “It’s a heartfelt album about where I am in my life right now,” he says. Excepting 'In the Hood' (an odd omission) and 'Ooh Na Na' (a very minor and late charter), it contains each single Jones released from 1996 through 2006.With sophistication and passion, Donell Jones gives fans Donell Jones Forever, his forthcoming sixth album, which features serenade-like songs about love, milestones and even matrimony. While each of Jones' four albums through 2006's Journey of a Gemini is rather consistent, this disc is pretty close to faultless as a highlights summary. That the equally excellent 'Spend the Night' (from 2006) follows 'U Know What's Up' on The Best of Donell Jones goes to show how Jones' frustrated bafflement would be justifiable it didn't even touch the mainstream chart and peaked at number 74 on the R&B chart. In fact, his first single, 1999's cool and breezy 'U Know What's Up' - written by a cast that included a pre-notoriety Anthony Hamilton and the undervalued Balewa Muhammad - is the only one that cracked the Top Ten of Billboard's mainstream singles chart.

Each successive Donell Jones album has charted higher than the one that preceded it - topping out at number 30, number six, number two, then number one, at least on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart - and yet, the singer still seemed like something of a cult artist as late as 2007, releasing the occasional single that most R&B radio listeners know, while never really becoming a full-blown star.

The best of donell jones songs