Courtney “Coco” Jones has more going on than most 15-year-olds.
Rather than cheerleading practice, ballet classes or gymnastics, Jones is on a singing tour, and has Disney ties to enhance her credibility. Jones was featured on Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing, or N.B.T., singing contest, and she starred in the Disney Channel movie, Let It Shine, as Roxie.
Fame began heading her way with her song, “Real You,” which was in the movie, Let It Shine. Her star continued to rise with her debut single, “Holla at the DJ,” followed by an extended-play CD, Made Of. She has also been featured, singing, “Don’t Push Me,” on the Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance soundtrack for the TV series Shake It Up.
Perhaps Jones was destined for great things; her father is former National Football League player Mike Jones and her mom is session singer Javonda Jones.
“My mom sang in church, in the choir and with Ronnie Milsap,” Jones says. “And my dad played with the Patriots, the Ravens and the Titans before he retired. So I grew up in Lebanon, Tenn.”
Her first public appearance was when she sang “America the Beautiful” at her kindergarten graduation. Before long, she had added singing the national anthem at two NFL games, and by the age of 9, she had met with the casting folks at Disney.
“I know I’ve come a long way since I was a barefoot kid in Tennessee,” Jones says, laughing. “Stuff happened early for me, but I try to remember my motto to repeat to myself, ‘Just be you,’ and not get the big head as a teenager.”
Since her mother is a singer, Jones grew up surrounded by song, and she especially recalls listening to Etta James, Roberta Flack, CeCe Winans, Fantasia and Celine Dion.
Jones’ mother travels with her and home schools her, and the teen says most of her studies have been easy, except for one.
“Math is my only problem,” she admits.
The young singer - who says her show is “very energetic, with a drummer and a lot of dancers” - is at work, schedule permitting, on a full-length album, which she suspects will be out in early 2014.
“I co-write a lot of songs,” she adds, “and there are people who have some songs that they bring to me, especially ballads.”
Opening act Pricecrew, which consists of brothers Philip, Zachary, Jacob and Caleb Price, is an Arkansas-based “pep band” that has opened for other Disney acts, including Raven-Symone and Mitchel Musso.
Coco Jones
Opening act: Pricecrew
6:30 p.m. Saturday, Timberwood Amphitheater, Magic Springs and Crystal Falls, 1701 E. Grand Ave. (U.S. 70), Hot Springs
Admission: $54.99 general admission ($49.99 if bought online), $33.99 for adults 55 and older, $74.99 for a season pass; $10 or $5 for reserved seating, lawn seating is free
(501) 624-0100
MagicSprings.com
Weekend, Pages 35 on 08/15/2013