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The world of music has bid farewell to Jack Jones, a legendary voice in jazz and pop, who has passed away at 86. With a career spanning nearly six decades, Jones became known not only for his smooth vocal style but also for his emotional resonance, especially in hits like The Impossible Dream and his Grammy-winning track Wives and Lovers. His career was marked by both chart-topping successes and artistic versatility, which earned him acclaim across multiple generations of listeners.

Jack Jones | Letterman/YouTube

Known for his magnetic stage presence, Jones remained active in the music scene for much of his life, bringing passion and professionalism to each performance. His life, however, held many interesting facets that went beyond his public persona, from Hollywood lineage to unique personal pursuits! Here’s a deeper look into five surprising aspects of his life and career that many may not know.

Jack Jones Had...

Jack Jones, a singer who found fame and chart success on the easy-listening side of the street in the 1960s, and who later became etched in television-watching America’s psyche with the “Love Boat” theme, died Wednesday at 86.

Jones died of leukemia at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif., his wife of 15 years, Eleanora Jones, said.

Jones had hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, but his highest chart numbers could be found on what was then known as the easy listening chart, which later became adult contemporary. In the easy listening format, he had No. 1 singles with “The Race is On” in 1965, “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” in 1966 and “Lady” in 1967.

In particular, “The Impossible Dream” — a cover of the most popular song from the 1965 Broadway musical “Man of La Mancha” — became culturally ubiquitous, through Jones’ frequent TV appearances, even though it peaked at No. 35 on the Hot 100, where it...

Jack Jones, the singer and actor best-known for performing the famed “Love Boat” theme song, has died, his family confirmed. He was 86.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Jones’s stepdaughter Nicole Whitty said that Jones died after fighting Leukemia for the past two years.

Jones was born into a family of performers, the son of actress Irene Harvey and the actor-singer Allan Jones. He won two Grammys in the early Sixties for vocal performance on his songs “Lollipops and Roses” and “Wives and Lovers.” The artist was nominated five times in total,...

Jack Jones, the Grammy-winning singer of popular music fare such as “Lollipops and Roses,” “The Impossible Dream,” “Wives and Lovers” and, perhaps most famously, the theme to TV’s The Love Boat, died Wednesday, October 23. He was 86.

A resident of Coachella Valley, California, Jones, who had been diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, died at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California last night. His family announced the news today to Kesq News Channel 3 of Palm Springs.

Born into a show business family on January 14, 1938, John Allan Jones was the son of singer Allan Jones and actress Irene Hervey. He would become one of the most popular singers of the Adult Contemporary, or Easy Listening, style in the 1960s. He scored Grammy Awards in 1962 (for “Lollipops and Roses”) and 1964 (for the Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition “Wives And Lovers”), just several years after his 1959 album debut This Love Of Mine.

Jack Jones, the silky Grammy-winning crooner who had hits with “Lollipops and Roses,” “Wives and Lovers” and “The Impossible Dream” before inviting TV viewers to set a course for adventure on The Love Boat, has died. He was 86.

Jones died Wednesday night at Eisenhower Medical in Rancho Mirage, California, after a two-year battle with leukemia, his stepdaughter Nicole Whitty told The Hollywood Reporter.

Jones was born into a showbiz family. His mother, Irene Hervey, was an Emmy-nominated actress who spent more than 50 years in film and on television. His father, tenor Allan Jones, portrayed the romantic male lead in Show Boat (1936) and in the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), and he managed a hit song of his own with “The Donkey Serenade.”

For eight seasons and more than 200 episodes of ABC’s The Love Boat starting in 1977, Jones extolled the virtues of...

'Play Misty for Me': Rabid fan Jessica Walter makes life difficult for disc jockey Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood, 'Harry Potter' and 'The Decline of Western Civilization': Packard Campus movies Movies set in the world of music and/or radio are among the April 2016 highlights at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia. Packard Campus Recorded Sound Curator Matt Barton selected the documentaries and narrative features in this particular program, which, according to the Theater's press release, includes “several rarely projected films in original release prints from the Library's holdings.” Radio/music titles include: Clint Eastwood's 1971 feature film directorial debut, the thriller Play Misty for Me, starring Jessica Walter as a woman obsessed with both a late night disc jockey (Eastwood) and the song “Misty,” jazzily played by Errol Garner at the piano. Also in the cast: Donna Mills, frequent Eastwood director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry,...

Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Arcives

As someone who has written extensively about the spy craze of the 1960s, I'm ashamed to admit I'd never seen an episode of Honey West. The series premiered in 1965 but lasted a mere one season, a casualty of high ratings from its time slot rival Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Thus, I had no preconceived notions when Vci's complete series arrived for review. The 4 DVD set consists of all thirty episodes. I have not watched all of them, but I've seen enough to get a general taste of the show- and I love it. It's been said that Honey West was the first kick-ass female action hero on TV, but in fact, that honor probably goes to the character of Cathy Gale on The Avengers. Nevertheless, Honey had great influence despite the brevity of her series. In fact, its amazing how loyal...

Technically, Ondine -- the title character of Neil Jordan's new film -- isn't a mermaid. When she winds up in fisherman Colin Farrell's net in the middle of the ocean, his daughter (Alison Barry) becomes convinced that she might be a selkie, a mythological seal-human hybrid of European folklore that the father and daughter take in as one of their own.

But, after all, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, and a mermaid by any other name would smell just as briny. Whatever you want to call its subject, "Ondine" certainly follows many of the rules of mermaid movies established by its cinematic predecessors. To wit, here are some rules to live by when your average Joe pulls out a mermaid from the sea (oh, and beware landlubbers, some Spoilers be near):

1) They're about testing the possibility of impossible love.

Most mermaid movies,...