Tarsha Jones, better known as Miss Jones, is a former R&B artist and radio personality. Miss Jones is currently the host of Jonesy In the Morning, a morning show that airs nationally on MissJonesRadio.Net. After previously working for Hot 97 and until 2008 and WUSL Power 99Fm and until 2011, Jonesy In the Morning is produced by Miss Jones. The new show is titled "Jonesy In the Morning", a nationally syndicated urban morning show, presented by MissJonesRadio.Net. Jonesy In the Morning can be heard streaming online as well weekday mornings at www.MissJonesRadio.Net 6am-10am Eastern.

Early life[link]

Jones graduated with honors from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, having majored in classical music. She also has a bachelor's degree in music from Syracuse University. After graduating from college, she worked as a long distance operator.^[1]

Career[link]

Music[link]

Jones met rapper Doug E. Fresh, who admired her vocal skills and invited her to his Get Fresh Crew tour. She began performing on recordings by such hip-hop artists as Big Pun, AZ, and Common.^[1] In 1994, her singles "Where I Wanna Be Boy" and "Don't Front" became popular. Her debut album, The Other Woman, was released in 1998, as Jones quit performing to work for New York City urban radio station WQHT with Guests like Malkam Dior.^[2]

Radio and controversy[link]

Before becoming host of Hot 97's Miss Jones in the Morning show, Jones reported music industry gossip for the Star and Buc Wild morning show on Hot 97.^[3]

She wrote an autobiography, Have You Met Miss Jones?: The Life and Loves of Radio's Most Controversial Diva, in 2007, published by Random House.^[4]

On June 28, 2008, Hot 97's contract with Miss Jones expired. Radio show Big Boy's Neighborhood, hosted by Big Boy and MTV VJ Liz Hernandez, replaced Jones' former morning show.^[5]

Tsunami Song and racial epithets[link]

On January 17, 2005, Hot 97 Miss Jones provoked a controversy by airing a song entitled "USA for Indonesia" a month after approximately 187,000 people died in the Asian tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The song, a parody sung to the 1985 tune "We Are the World", was criticized for overtly racist mocking of the Asian and East African victims; the song lyrics contain the racially derogatory word "Chinamen," and calls the drowning victims "bitches." Some of the lyrics included the words "Go find your mommy. I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head. And now your children will be sold. Child slavery".^[6]

Miss Info, a fellow on-air colleague of Korean descent, was outraged and spoke against the song on the station. She excluded herself from producing the song and said it was wrong for it to be played.^[7] Miss Info immediately found herself subjected to a four-minute, on-air lambasting from the other DJs. Miss Jones accused Miss Info of always distancing herself from the antics of the others, and of acting superior because she is Asian.^[8] Another jock on the show named Todd Lynn muttered "I'm gonna start shooting Asians."^[9]

Following angry protests from the Asian-American community, bloggers, and networking sites, and other New Yorkers, Miss Jones, DJ Envy , and Tasha Hightower were suspended for two weeks while Todd Lynn and song writer Rick Del Gado were fired.^[10][11] The station issued an apology on its website. Newsday, Sprint, McDonald's, and Toyota all pulled their advertising from the station.^[12] The suspended employees' pay was diverted to charities helping victims of the tsunami.^[7]

Bibliography[link]

• Jones, Tarsha. Have You Met Miss Jones?: The Life and Loves of Radio's Most Controversial Diva. New York: Random House: 2007. ISBN 0-345-49748-1.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]