Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] you [Applause] [Music] so so well hello everyone good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world it’s Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman with Relationship Matters. I hope everyone is doing great today. I feel good, I feel really good today and I just a little bit I was thinking, have you had your COVID-19 vaccine? Now I know if you’re in a certain age group, if you’re a senior citizen or a responder or an essential worker, you probably have had it. I’m a senior citizen and I’ve had both of my shots. Now the first one, no reaction. The second one, I didn’t feel quite myself for a couple of days. But I know that there are people who are saying they don’t want the vaccine for various reasons and some of the reasons I can understand. But think about this, if you are kind of on the line or if you’re like, you know, I don’t need it, think about if you contract COVID and let’s say you don’t experience any of the symptoms, you’re just a carrier. Think of who you can carry it to. You can carry it to a loved one and not even know that you transmitted it. I was watching TV and I saw all of these young people with, you know, having a good time, spring break. And I know it’s a tradition, I know young people want to get out and have a good time, but just think you’re out there and I know when I was that age, I felt like I was invincible, you know, nothing could happen to me. But you can take it to someone else, you can get it from someone who’s not masked and take it home to your mother, your father, your grandmother, aunt, uncle. So just think about it. I might have not have changed your mind, you know, but I just wanted to give my thoughts on it at least now that I’ve had both of my shots. And my son who works for Chicago Public Schools and he works with students, he had his first shot and when he gets his second shot, I can’t wait. I’ll be able to hug. I haven’t hugged him since it’s been a year and I just can’t wait to do that. And my friends who have gotten their shots, you know, I can’t wait to go out to breakfast and go out to lunch. And even though I’m still gonna wear a mask, I’m still gonna stay safe. So it was just something that was on my mind. Well, anyway, that’s enough about me and my thoughts. Today we have a special guest whose voice, when you hear her voice, and I’m gonna make you wait, when you hear her voice, you’re gonna say OMG, OMG. Her name is Charlene Jones, we’re calling her Char for short. Char is a mother, a singer, a songwriting recording artist. I think I’m going to ask her to write a song for me. She’s a motivator, she is the daughter of the late Reverend CM and Ella Jones. Her mission is to sing, inspire, and empower. She’s traveled and has shared her gifts on many different stages and I’m just so delighted to have her here with me. She is extremely grateful for every opportunity. Char is looking forward to whatever God has in store for this present moment and the moments to come and I know that he has a lot in store for her. I’m going to bring to you Char Jones. Hi Char!

Char Jones
Hello, how are you?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I am great, how are you?

Char Jones
I’m doing great, I’m doing great.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Now where are you in the world, where are you?

Char Jones
I am in Michigan.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, you’re in Michigan, okay.

Char Jones
Yes, it’s not that far from me. I’m in Saint Joseph, Michigan, close to the Benton Harbor area.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. I have a friend who’s from Benton Harbor.

Char Jones
Yeah, my hometown.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Alrighty, alright. Well, we’re going to jump right into this, right into it, Char. Let’s get into it. Okay, so let me ask you, you know, I’m gonna start, I want you to tell me about your journey and [Music] the theme today is about success through adversity. So tell me, I want you to start from the beginning. When we’re talking about adversity, tell me about adversity as far as you are concerned. What, where did you, how did you get to where you are today? Well, what did you go through?

Char Jones
First of all, I want to say thank you for having me today and allowing me to share my journey. Well, if I’m starting where the adversity really began, it was after the death of my mother. My life took a turn. I became a guardian. My mother died when she was 44 years old, I was 23. I had a brother who was 13 and 12, a brother who was 19, he was in the military, and a 70 plus year old dad and a 90-plus year old auntie, great aunt that was living with me. So we all lived together and it changed the course of my life. It grew me up real fast. All my plans of, you know, wanting to go to California and wanting to sing, wanting to do all that got put on hold to take care of my brothers, my dad, and my great aunt. And then three years later, my dad died and I was there with my great aunt who was well into her 90s that I took care of and I became full legal guardians of my brothers, my younger brothers at that time. And it was tough. There were some days that we didn’t have heat, there were some days that the meals were kind of light, but we stuck together. And when you go from a full intact family with a mom and a dad to no parents and it’s all on you, that grows you up real quick. It was rough, but we stuck together.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow. Now, did you have to become the breadwinner?

Char Jones
My dad, when my mom died, my dad was still alive and so he was the breadwinner for us. He took care of us financially after my mother died so that I could take care of my brothers and my great aunt. And after my dad died, we had to, me and my brother that was in the military, he came home. We took care of the house and the bills and my brothers. So it was tough. So my brother that’s next to me, Reverend Jones, he helped to pay the bills and, you know, you get what you get for social security from my younger brothers, but the ends were very hard to meet.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, I can imagine. I can’t imagine. Yes. So is this what brought you to singing? So tell me what brought you to singing because you are a phenomenal singer. So what brought you there?

Char Jones
Well, my dad was a pastor, my mom a first lady, so I grew up singing in church from an early age. And I think around the age of about eight, I started taking private piano lessons because my dad and mom wanted me to learn to play. I didn’t necessarily like playing the piano, but I didn’t have a choice. So I liked singing more than I liked playing the piano, but thank God I did it and I began to love both. So from a young age, singing was always, you know, that was at the forefront. I always loved to sing.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So if they make it sing solos, you know, choir?

Char Jones
Yes, I started out in the choir. My cousin was the musician for the church and when she graduated and went to college, then I began to play full time. I was about 14 and I was directing the choir and playing and that was not a, you know, yeah, I think I want to do it. It’s, okay, you’re going to. And so I was put into it and I had to produce.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You know what, now this is really strange when you’re talking about that. I took piano lessons, my mother made me take piano lessons now, but I wanted to be a ballerina. [Laughter] But in the end, like you, I ended up playing and playing the piano in church. We had, when I was a teenager, we had what we call junior church. So I had to play the piano and direct the junior choir. And then when I got old enough, then we, it’s like we say, go up there to the big church.

Char Jones
Yeah, big church.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And was singing in the choir and then because I had been playing the piano downstairs, then they said, okay, so now you can play the piano upstairs. And the same thing ended up having to direct the choir and produce. Yes, I didn’t really want to do it, but ended up enjoying it and started singing because my voice is nothing like this, like your voice. But you know, it’s a funny thing that a lot of great singers start off in the church.

Char Jones
Yes, in the church.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
In the church. And now when, okay, so you were singing in the church. So, and you started singing early, start writing your songs?

Char Jones
I always had a, even when I was taking piano lessons, I always wanted to change the music to what I heard in my head. So I would go to my piano lessons and she said, that’s good, but that’s, you know, that’s not what’s on the music. So I started that early on, like actually when I started taking over the choir, I would take songs and rearrange hymns. That’s how it started. And I think I wrote my actual first song that, it was “He is Love” and I think that was about in 2000, maybe 2005. I wrote my first song that I said, this is an original song. And from that point, about 2004, 2005, it was just snowballing. Songs just started coming. But I guess the formulating stage was start rearranging hymns and things like that, the way that I heard it in my head until I started to just write on my own.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So when you were in church, did they let you, I hate to say perform, but did they let you teach or sing or your renditions?

Char Jones
Yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay.

Char Jones
Yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wait, I hate to say this, but you must have been, you weren’t in a Presbyterian church. And I can say this because I’m a Presbyterian people, so I don’t want, look, I don’t want any letters or anything, but I’m a Presbyterian, so.

Char Jones
And I’ve worked at a Presbyterian church for 13 years, so no, but Baptist.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah.

Char Jones
But I did join my choir with the Presbyterian choir and we did a couple of renditions of songs together. They enjoyed that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. Yeah. Wow. Wow. So now, outside of your parents, who has been your biggest inspiration as far as writing and as far as singing?

Char Jones
True story. I think I saw Fred Hammond at Great America back in the day. He came to Great America and I saw him get up with his band and it was just, it struck something in me. And me and my brother, my brother, my youngest brother plays the drums and I’m like, you know what, I want that. I went home after that and I think that’s when I started really taking myself serious as a writer, watching him perform with the band. It was just, it was an experience really that changed me. And from that point on, I went home. So that was around that time and I got busy.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. Yeah. Oh yeah. Wow. Wow. And now I know that you’ve traveled a lot and so tell me, where have you gone to sing?

Char Jones
So in 2010, one of the biggest things, one of the best experiences that I can say that I’ve had, I was invited to come out to go out to California on like a little mini tour, me and my brother who plays drums. And we sang, we went to, we were in Inglewood, we were in Pomona, we went to San Fernando, San Bernardino. I think we sang at different churches and I tell you, it was amazing.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow.

Char Jones
And they could not believe I was from Michigan. You cannot be from Michigan singing like that. I’m like, yes, I am.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh wow.

Char Jones
It was an awesome experience. I loved it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh my goodness. Good. And so now you will travel and you’re, so do you consider yourself a gospel singer or, you know, what’s your genre, so to speak, of stop saying?

Char Jones
I always say that my roots are gospel with a little jazz, with a little soul, with a little inspiration. It’s just all jammed in there and I haven’t quite figured out what I am yet, but I know that my roots are deep gospel, but my writing is a little bit different. It has a, whatever the Lord puts in there, that’s what I write and it’s not necessarily the gospel that I grew up singing.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. All right. So how many songs have you written?

Char Jones
Oh, I’ve written probably well over 50.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh my goodness. Have you recorded any of your 50 songs?

Char Jones
I recorded a small fraction of the songs that I have written and it’s probably, yeah, it’s well over 50 and I’ve only recorded just not even close to what I want to do with that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So, but you are going to record them?

Char Jones
Yes, I am. I’m looking to do something later this year.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. Okay. Now, is there a specific label that you’re on or?

Char Jones
I’m an independent.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. So how does that work?

Char Jones
Well, how it works as an independent artist is you get an online distribution platform that will release your music to the different platforms like Amazon, iTunes, and you submit it. And I am through DistroKid, so they distributed “Stronger” for me and I was blessed to be able to get “Stronger” on Pandora Radio.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh yeah, yeah, find your Pandora.

Char Jones
Yes, yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. Well, before we go any further, we’re going to take a quick break and I hope, let me tell you audience, about maybe two minutes. I want you to call your friends, tell them to get on the app on their phones, E360, tell them to go to YouTube where we’re live streaming because you are going to, you’re going to do like I did when I first heard her sing. I was like, my mouth dropped open. Your mouths are going to open, I’m telling you. I’m going to tell you, and I’m not the type of person that’ll just say stuff just because they’re a guest. You’re going to marvel at what you hear. So I’m going to take a quick break and we’ll be right back. [Music]

Char Jones
[Music] Oh, okay. [Applause] Oh, okay. Oh, well, we talked about that. Do we? Real nice. It’s real life, girl. Look, I’m just rocking back and forth. I mean, you talk a girl, that was just so beautiful, just so beautiful. Your voice is angelic and it, I mean, it really is. Have you ever thought about, you know, the show “Sunday Best”?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes.

Char Jones
Have you thought about auditioning for “Sunday Best”?

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Are you a wife about it? [Laughter]

Char Jones
Thank you. Yeah, I have. I just, I don’t know. I don’t know why I have never done that.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Step out there, just step out there, step out there. I know you’ve probably been told this before and I’m sure God didn’t say it, so.

Char Jones
[Music] You’re right, absolutely.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Tell me about that song. Which song did you play? Because I, the mirror.

Char Jones
It was in a rough time. It was at a rough time and that song came to me like all at once. You know, I was sitting, I was sitting in church. I probably should have been paying more attention, but like a little tune came into my head and then I went home and wrote the whole thing. It was at a time when I was kind of questioning who I was. I was hurting a little bit. When my mom died, I didn’t get a chance, I don’t think, to fully grasp the level of grief that I was carrying around because of all of the things that I had to do. And the songs that I began to write were beginning to heal me and the mirror was a part of that healing process, a part of the letting go of the shame of mistakes that you made, Charlene, you know, let go and know that God has already paid the price. You’re free to do it. It’s okay. So that was a healing for me.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. All right. It’s a beautiful song. And is that a time in your life when you knew in your heart that it was only God who was helping you, especially with that song, but helping you in your journey?

Char Jones
Yes, it was an epiphany moment. And once I opened up and realized that there was, it was nobody else, it was only him, then he started to just feed more and more songs to release, not just, I don’t think it was just for me, but for anybody who is, you know, anybody who might need to hear my hurt and my epiphany moment that, ah, God is carrying me through this, give it to him.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. And that was my next question. And you really answered it about who your audience is and who is your message for, you know. And well, you know what, I’m going to ask this. Why do you think that, it’s kind of deep, but can’t remember, why do you think that God tells you to put your message out in a way that you’re putting it out?

Char Jones
Yeah, maybe some years ago, I wouldn’t be able to answer that because that is a really deep question. But I go back to a conversation that I had with God at a young age and it was simple. Lord, if you, when I would sing, sometimes I was younger, my voice would crack and break. And I said, Lord, if you let me sing without my voice cracking and breaking, I promise I will sing for you for the rest of my life. And that was probably the simplest, most profound prayer that I’ve ever prayed. And he did that. And I think that was our agreement that everything that I’ve had to go through, every disappointment, every up, every down was grooming me to write these songs because we have a promise going here. So I think that that’s why. And I’m willing.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. So have you had singing lessons or this is just?

Char Jones
Well, I went to music school out of high school. I went to D’Angelo School of Music in Erie, Pennsylvania. And when I got there, I was already singing and been a veteran of singing and rearranging. But I’m telling you, music school broke me down and built me back up again.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wait, wait, you went in there and said, wait a minute, you think you all laugh?

Char Jones
Exactly. It helped to train my voice, to train my voice and how to control it. I did not get to finish. When I was in my third year, I came home and little did I know just, you know, maybe a year or two later that my mom would pass away. So God is allowing me to finish now. So I’ll be finished with school in November.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes. Okay. So now you say you’re in Michigan.

Char Jones
Yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
But the school is in Erie, Pennsylvania. Do you have to travel to go or online or how do you, how are you doing that?

Char Jones
I am going online, University of Arizona.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. Yes. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, so are you, so now are you doing voice or you have to do theory? How does that work?

Char Jones
I’m finishing up because of all of the classes that I took with music. I am doing liberal, finishing up with a liberal arts degree.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay.

Char Jones
Yes. So in order to do music, because I was a performance major, you have to be at the school to do that. Okay. So I did music theory. I did my time with that. I did music theory, music history, music. I mean, the list goes on.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. Yeah. Oh, wow. So now you sing mostly in church. Is that correct?

Char Jones
Yeah. I, I, I, yeah. Other stages. Yes. Yes. I do con, I do concert venues. I’ve sang at a brew pub. I, that I stepped out and did that. The church was surprised, but I did it and it was amazing. So, and that opened up doors for a lot of other events. I’ve done events for the Southwest Michigan Orchestra. We did a respect concert and I got to sing the finale, Aretha Franklin, respect. So that was, that was amazing. So yeah, I do different venues.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, wow. You know, so when are you coming to Chicago, girl?

Char Jones
Whenever you, you guys have me, I’m ready to come. I’m ready.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay. This, this is, you know, I’m still listening to the mirror in my head, honestly, honestly. And, and my husband is over there and he looked, he went, and I’m like rocking back and forth. It’s beautiful. Now, what I have done, I want people to know that I put your website in the chat. And so it’s going to, going to all these, my different platforms and networks. And what I’m hoping is that, that people hear you, hear your voice, because to me, you know, you should be international. And I, and I’m serious. I’m, I’m, I’m not just saying this, you know, but, but I’m serious. You know, your, your voice is professional sounding. And I just know a little bit about music. I mean, I mean, on pitch, I was listening to all of that because I was an education major, but a music minor. Yes. And, and so I, I’m, I’m listening to all of that. And, and I’m thinking, you know, but you know what, when it’s time, when, when it’s time, it’s, it’s always the right time. Yes. I’m looking at this, one of the comments, God personally gave her one of his vocal cords. You know what, that is profound. I really like that. That is profound. That is, you are, you’re right, Andre, you are definitely right. Oh my goodness. Wow. So Andre was the producer that worked with me on “Stronger.”

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Really?

Char Jones
Yes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Really? So now if they go to your website, charlenejonesmusic.com, now are your albums listed on there or do you have to go, how, how do, how people order, like if they want to, I know they can order the song off of your website, but like if they want to buy albums and stuff.

Char Jones
If they want to buy, if they want to purchase “Stronger,” there is a link, I think for Amazon, you click that link and it should take you right to the album. And I’m going to, I’ve been working on my website. I’m going to put the link to DistroKid so you can get it right from there, but it’s on many, many platforms. If you have iTunes, if you have Spotify, if you have Google Music, it’s on all of those platforms and they will be listed on my website, but they can, if they want to get the whole album, click on the link, a couple, there’s two links and it will take them right to Amazon Music. You can purchase it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And that’s charlenejonesmusic.com. And I’m going to recommend you to someone and I’m going to have him to really listen to you and see if he would consider, I’m going to push, inviting you to sing with his, his band. I’m, I’m, I’m going to see what, because you, you just need to be out there. Now you said that you are writing songs. Are you going to come out with another album or something? You said you were working on something.

Char Jones
Yes, I am. And I’m pulling from what I have already written and I have something, a really good one, a couple of good ones that I want to come out with this year. There’s Dre putting, this is available on all music platforms. So I, it’s called “In My Mother’s Eyes.” So I want to release that along with a couple of other songs, so maybe about three songs.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. So in, in your, you say in your mother’s eyes?

Char Jones
Yep, in my mother’s eyes.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
In your mother’s eyes. And tell me about that.

Char Jones
In my mother’s eyes, I wrote that probably, oh, probably maybe 10 years after my mom died, if not more. And it’s kind of a confirmation that my mom is okay and that she’s okay with me. One of the lines is peace, love, hope, praise in my mother’s eyes. And it kind of is, it’s kind of a healing song for me. And a lot of people now are experiencing the loss of parents. I experienced that 29 years ago. So a lot of my friends are just experiencing that now in their, you know, in their 50s. I experienced it in my 20s. So I think that it is a time when people need to need something that they can hold on to for their moms because there’s nobody like your mother.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I’m looking forward, I’m, I’m really looking forward to that, Char, because I lost my mother in 2017. Yeah. And until you go through that journey, I understand. And, and you really need that. And, and like you say, you know, like to know that you’re all right with her, she’s all right with you, you know, and, and a lot of people, like you said, especially now they’ve lost parents because of this dreaded, yes. And, and just, just lost parents. And, and so I’m really looking forward to that. You, you really, I really want to know when that comes out because I, I, I definitely need that myself. Yes. But Char, I want to thank you so much for, for appearing tonight or today in the morning, wherever you are in the world, because I do have audience from, from all over the world. And sometimes they’ll tell me it’s three o’clock in the morning. It’s like, you know, but I really want to thank you for coming. You, you, you are a very authentic soul. Thank you. Yeah, you really are. And you are going to go far, honey. God’s going to send you. We’re going to say, I’m going to say, I know her. She was on my show. So thank you so much. I want you to have a beautifully blessed the rest of your day.

Char Jones
Thank you. You too. And thank you for having me. I truly appreciate it.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
It was my pleasure. It was my pleasure. Thank you. I don’t want you to go anywhere. You cannot go anywhere. To me, this was amazing. This, you know, I have a lot of different guests and sometimes they touch your brains and sometimes they touch your heart and sometimes they touch your spirit. And this is one of my guests that really, really touched my spirit. Now, let me say this. If you would like to advertise on this show with eye-catching videos and you did see some of the commercials, you want to increase your visibility, you can contact us at 1-877-667-7325 or jen4now125@gmail.com. We do all of our videos in-house. And if you would like to be a guest on the Relationship Matters show, just email me at jan4now125@gmail.com. I want to say that I was very happy to see all of you this evening. I appreciate you and I want you to continue to watch Relationship Matters. Now, next week, we’re going a whole different vein. What we’re going to talk about is finances. I will have two guests. One is going to talk to you about Bitcoin. She says she is the Harriet Tubman of Bitcoin. And along with her, I will have Charlene Reinhart, who is an investment guru, especially with the stock market. So you want to be here. You are going to want to learn some things that I really want to know about Bitcoin because I’m really wondering about Bitcoin, blockchain, all of what that is and how to invest in the stock market. Again, I want to thank all of you for being with me this evening and I hope to see you again next week. So have a beautifully blessed rest of your evening and I want you to remember succession point. I want you to remember relationships matter and there are all kinds of relationship matters. Relationships really are life and there is no life without relationships. Bye bye. See you next week. [Music]