Erica Glaeser Jones- Star Child of Rock & Roll

By- Tommy Roeck

Erica Jones came from a musical family starting with her Mother Mickey Glaeser, and including brother Joe Glaeser, Cousins Rick Dicus, Jennifer Evans, and Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Lynn who all have performed locally in Arkansas. All her children also have the music gene, Grace played flute in the Lakeside high school marching band, and Eric, and Ellis sing and play guitar. EJ was born and raised on the east coast in a small Maryland Town. In 1980 she completed the 11th grade, and was whisked off to Hot Springs, Ar. and graduated Lake Hamilton H.S. in 1981. Her parents The Glaesers, listened to classical, Big Band, & Broadway musicals, and her Mother sang and played guitar in many venues all over the world, touring constantly while Jones was a youngster. Her love for rock music was inspired by watching Top of the Pops BBC television show every Thursday night while she was living in Cheltenham, England from 1972 to 1975, and was a big fan of Suzie Quattro, David Essex, & Golden Earring.

By Late Junior High School she was infatuated with Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart and Tommy Shaw of Styx. She dreamed of being onstage with her heroes and all through school. She sang in the church choir, and along with the radio and records. By the time she actually got asked to sing in a band she says It was all about the metal, and her favorite artists were Ozzy, Whitesnake, Dokken, Loverboy, and The Scorpions. One of her staples which her mother sang has always been House of the Rising Sun, and has become a tribute to her Mother, Shane Northcutt, and her faithful following at Spa City Ink, who always requested it on Tuesdays when Jones used to run the karaoke at Heavys Bar in Hot Springs. Erica started performing professionally in 1985 in a group called Tight Squeeze and ended up coming in 2nd place at the Arkansas state battle of the bands that year. She was then asked to sing with Mike Tabor and Paul Chunns band Bad Habitsat Tiffanys Club on Ouchita Ave. in Hot Springs later that year, until the bar burned down. You could say she set that place on fire with her magical voice. In 1989 She formed a band called Baby & the Blues Boys with this reporter, David Harvey, Chris ORourke, & Mike Stacey while I was on hiatis from Detroit visiting family and friends, and played a few select engagements. As I was off to L.A. drama, she then formed a band with the remnants of that group and called it Rocking Horse. Then landed a house gig at Goodtime Charlies and played there for over a year. The next few years found her in and out of different bands like Justus, Alias Jones &, Old School Players to name a few. She then decided to take a break to raise her children from 1991 to 2002. In 2003 old partner in crime Guitarist Dave Harvey called on her to sing in his Christian band 3:16 and they performed at many large Christian rock events and venues all around the Arkla-tex-a-homa & Memphis area for a few years until Harvey moved to Dallas in 2006 to pursue a bigger audience. Most recently in 2011 She has been performing in local Hot Springs band Four of a Kind and played gigs at Hard Riders in Cabot, Luckys Bar, Saddlebags, The Dawg House, and Landers Harley Davidson, in Hot Springs. All the while working for a local hospital E. R. for the last nine years. Erica loves playing trivia with her friends, singing karaoke, and most of all music. As a wise man says; There Aint No Cure. She truly appreciates all the years of support from her family and friends, and dreams that per chance her offspring will someday carry the proverbial torch and love of the thing called music and take it to the next level, and generation, and love it as much as she does. She lost her Uncle Lynn in 1995, and most recently Cousin Ricky in 2009, and her Mother Mickey in 2010, and they are sorely missed daily, and especially at family reunions where the music flows like water. Music is her only crutch, and it has helped her hold her head up high as she sings her soul out to the audience, in turn lightening the daily load of the common patron, If you get a chance to hear this beautiful songbird, do not miss your chance at a magical evening of her soulful sultry sounds. T. R.