When Kevin Jonas Sr.’s famous sons were young, he drove them from New Jersey to New York City’s world-renowned Broadway to appear in musicals. They wrote songs together on the commute – a skill they honed on which the family built their legacy.
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Three of his sons — Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas — became the multi-platinum-selling phenoms, the Jonas Brothers. Papa Jonas, as he’s called, put his music career on hold to help them succeed. But now it’s his turn. Papa Jonas is keeping a decades-old promise to his wife Denise with the release of his Christmas album Ready Set Glow – A Holiday Collection. She and their youngest son, Frankie, sing with him on the album.
“This project was, ‘I need to do this because I promised my wife,’” Jonas said. “It is about family, and it’s about Christmas, and my love of Christmas, and our love of Christmas. A part of me would love my sons to enjoy it because of what they’ve become, and they do love it. But the added benefit of five granddaughters after four boys, we played it for the youngest granddaughter, and she danced around the room and had to listen to Ready Set Glow 11 times straight.”
Kevin Jonas Sr.’s Granddaughter Listened to Title Track 11 Straight Times
Jonas, the founder of Jonas Group Entertainment, released his album on JGE’s Nashville-based Red Van Records. It’s surreal to Jonas, who remembers him and his wife selling their furniture 35 years ago to fund his first trip to Nashville to attend a songwriting conference. He knocked door-to-door on Music Row, trying to make it as a songwriter. Every time he journeyed to Music City, he and his wife had to find something else to sell. Life has led him in a different direction for decades, but now, with JGE and Red Van Records in Nashville, Jonas has his very own door on Music Row.
“Nashville is a deeply seated passion in my heart,” he said. “Having our offices on Music Row, it’s emotional for me. It’s a long time coming, and I just want to show it the honor it deserves. It was my inspiration.”
Jonas wrote five of the seven songs on Ready Set Glow—one of them even came from the New York City commute he made with Nick as a child. The father-son team wrote “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)” together, and Jonas said the song’s origin was an extraordinary story.
Kevin Jonas Sr.’s Talks Song He Wrote With Nick Jonas When He Was 9
Nick Jonas was in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway when he was 9. Every year, the Broadway community compiled a charity CD to combat AIDS. This particular year, Beauty and the Beast asked Nick if he would represent the musical on the album. He said yes but said he wanted to write the song.
“They kind of laughed, not knowing that that’s what we did every day, going back and forth,” Jonas said. “So he gets in the car and he said, ‘Dad, we need to write a Christmas song for the Christmas album.’”
They wrote ‘Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer),’ and he played it for them the next day. The child was allowed to sing the song he wrote the night before on the album – and it launched his recording career. The family’s chiropractor loved the song so much that he played it for “someone in the music business.” That person turned out to be the head of Sony Music International.
“He signed Nick on the spot,” Jonas said. “This is my version of that song Nick did back when he was 10 years old. This is my adult version. I’ve had people say it feels like almost a lullaby. And it really did represent our songwriting.”
Jonas said the opportunity to release the album feels like a gift and that he has no expectation for it beyond that. With the album’s release came a few chores Jonas didn’t plan to tackle –TikTok.
“I’m doing what I tell all my artists to do,” he said. “It’s the funniest thing. I’ve made my bed. I have to lie in it, and I can’t back out of it. So, I am doing Instagram and TikTok videos with the verified Santa Claus.”
(Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
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