Ron Jones was born in Kansas City, Kansas. 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 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, 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. He also arranged and composed the theme songs of The Smurfs and The Snorks. Ron later joined the composing team of Mike Post and Pete Carpenter, where he worked on various popular television series such as The A-Team, Magnum, P.I., and Hardcastle and McCormick. In 1987, he was recruited by Disney Music President Chris Montan to compose music for Disney's first syndicated cartoon series, DuckTales.
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-era Star Trek[1] and has stated that the music in the subsequent spin-offs is less melodic and more electronic in nature. [2] He once stated in an interview that he believed the theme for the series Enterprise' would have been more suitable for the opening ceremonies of the WNBA.[3]
Jones created music for the first 12 seasons (1999–2014) of Family Guy.[4][5]
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 2000 ("We Only Live to Kiss Your A*s" aka "This House is Freakin' Sweet", from "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater") and 2011 ("Christmastime is Killing Us", from "Road to the North Pole"); Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 2008 ("Lois Kills Stewie") and 2011 ("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").[6]
^Interview: Ron Jones, Question 12; Star Trek Soundtracks,[1]Archived January 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine; Published: December 2002; Accessed: 11 October 2009
^Interview: Ron Jones, Question 13; Star Trek Soundtracks, [2]Archived January 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine; Published: December 2002; Accessed: 11 October 2009
^"RON JONES AND SETH MACFARLANE JAZZ IT UP [3]; Published: 1 September 2009; Accessed: 11 November 2015
^BMI Composer Just a ‘Family Guy’ [4]; Published: 9 October 2008; Accessed: 11 November 2015
^Seth MacFarlane (October 21, 2008). Family Guy Volume 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Stewie Kills Lois" (DVD). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
