Jill Jones (born July 11, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress, who performed as a backing vocalist for Teena Marie and Prince in the 1980s. Overview Jones was born in Lebanon, Ohio on July 11, 1962. Her mother, a fashion model, is of African American heritage, and her father, a jazz drummer, is Italian. Jones was raised mostly by her grandparents, until relocating to Los Angeles when her mother remarried. She began a singing career at age 15 as a backup vocalist for Teena Marie, whom her mother managed. Today, she maintains her own fan pages on Twitter and Facebook. Highlights from her early career include various collaborative works with Prince in the 1980s and 1990s, including a collaborative debut released under her own name. Since 2001, she has released three acoustic and dance albums, with 2009's "Living for the Weekend" being her most recent album. Early music career Jones performed as backing vocalist on a number of Teena Marie's Motown albums in the early 80s and also co-wrote the songs "Young Girl In Love" from Lady T (1980) and "The Ballad of Cradle Rob and Me" from It Must Be Magic (1981). She met Prince in 1980 at age 18, when Teena Marie was the opening act during his Dirty Mind tour. Prince loved her voice, encouraged her to sing, and stayed in touch with Jones. She became a backup vocalist for Prince when he invited her to the Sunset Sound recording studios in 1982, to sing backing vocals for several tracks on the album 1999. She was credited under just her initials J.J. She also was featured in music videos for the songs "1999" and "Little Red Corvette", as well as extended rarely aired music video for "Automatic", and then joined the tour for 1999 to sing backing vocals with the Prince side-project Vanity 6. After the tour, she moved to Minneapolis and became Prince's on-and-off again girlfriend. She had a bit part as a waitress in the film Purple Rain (1984), and had an appearance in the sequel Graffiti Bridge (1990), where she takes off an undergarment to end a conflicting scene with Prince. Her debut album was the self-titled Jill Jones (1987), released on Prince's Paisley Park Records. Prince was credited as a co-writer with Jones, but wrote all of the songs himself. Lead single "Mia Bocca" became a top 10 hit in Italy