Regina Jones admiring SOUL Newspaper covers. (Triple 7 Public Relations)
It was 1965, and America was just discovering sounds of soul from the radio.
Before the high-octane coverage of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in Rolling Stone magazine and CREEM’s dedication of being “America’s Only Rock n’ Roll” publication, SOUL Newspaper was the precursor to preserving Black artistry from Motown to Stax Records.
At the intersection of it all is Regina Jones, mother and journalist turned public relations executive, ready to tell her story to the world on camera after spending her career backstage of the glamour.
The 57th NAACP Image Awards nominated documentary “Who in the is Hell Regina Jones?” details the emergence of the SOUL Newspaper from the ashes of the 1965 Watts Rebellion and the resilience Jones gained from being a Black woman in America.
From marrying and preparing to raise a family at 15 to becoming the co-founder of a trailblazing culture newspaper, Jones and her aspiring news anchor husband Ken Jones, were struggling to find financial stability in Los Angeles in the early ‘60s. Between working a series of odd jobs, Jones found herself as a LAPD dispatcher.
On Aug. 11, 1965, she received a call that she would never forget.
She answered the first distress call of the Watts Rebellion that swept Los Angeles. As she was positioned at the epicenter of racial turmoil for the following six days, Jones and her husband sought the opportunity for entrepreneurship.
“At that time, there was EBONY and Jet, but they didn’t cover the grassroots, Black entertainers,” Jones said in an interview with The FAMUAN. “He came up with the idea that our music touches our souls, and why not do a publication about the people who make music?”
Less than a year after the riots, the Black arts and culture publication SOUL Newspaper was born from the Jones’ dining room. As a Black-owned, independent newspaper, the two faced issues making ends meet while pursuing their editorial goals.
“Who in the Hell is Regina Jones?” documents the birth of SOUL. (Triple 7 Public Relations)
“I was working at the police department still and raising five kids,” Jones said. “He was working, and I just took care of the bookkeeping and financial part, because that was my role at home as a young mother.”
Based in Los Angeles, the soul of SOUL Newspaper quickly spread to San Francisco, the Bay Area and eventually reached newsstands around the country. Jones scouted Black journalists, writers and photographers such as Leonard Pitts and Bruce Talamon to contribute to SOUL.
“I think [Pitts] was 19 when he started,” she said reflectively. “I’m proud and honored to have been a part of the beginning of his career. That feeds my soul.”
SOUL’s first issue featured James Brown and Mick Jagger with the headline “White Artists Selling Negro ‘SOUL,’” selling over 10,000 copies.
Though not initially involved in editorial, Jones conducted the business behind the glamour of the culture publication, describing herself as the visionary.
“I was behind the scenes, business, advertising sales, that kind of thing,” she said. “And it was visionary. I’m a natural implementer.”
Still, undertaking the pressures of motherhood and facing discrimination in the journalistic space, proved to be difficult. However, her work at SOUL taught valuable lessons on not taking things personally and being resilient.
“[Black women] have to work so damn hard,” she said. “We are still working as hard, if not harder than before … Don’t take the ___ that people dump on you as personal. Take it as their problem, not yours.”
Within its first year of printing, SOUL published its interviews and exclusive scoops from high-profile clients, such as The Supremes, The Temptations, James Brown, Sidney Poitier, Ray Charles and other lesser-known artists matriculating through Motown and Stax Records.
Eventually, major Black artists such as Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were photographed for iconic covers. SOUL was also the first publication to feature the Jackson 5 on a cover.
The night before a new issue, Jones recalled the moment she got the call from a teary David Ruffin explaining that he was fired from The Temptations, before Motown’s official announcement.
“We were just going to press the next day,” Jones said. “I was up all night, getting the story and changing to replace the cover story. Boy, that challenged me … I was horrified.”
A dedicated publisher, Jones knew the importance of being one of the first publications to break the story, which she considers one of SOUL’s most controversial stories. Despite backlash from Motown Records, SOUL used their distinct advantage and genuine friendships built with artists to proceed with the story.
“You know, the gun is always sitting there, and then when you hear the cock, you have to pull off a miracle,” she said. “And you have to do it like it’s no big deal.”
These journalistic instincts led Jones to win the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Woman in Business in 1980.
The SOUL was felt worldwide, as copies of the publication hit shelves in Germany and However, by the early ‘80s, Jones’ life seemed to fall to pieces.
“The year before SOUL stopped, my 20-year marriage ended and my mother died,” she said. “And then, my sixth child, SOUL, died.”
With these losses overlapping, Jones “fell apart for months.”
As resilient as ever, Jones carried the fragments on herself onward.
After a particularly harrowing day at one of her temporary jobs, founder of then up-and-coming SOLAR Records Dick Griffey, offered Jones to be his vice president of publicity over dinner.
“I went from having lost everything to going to work for Dick,” Jones said. “But it wasn’t just working for a record company as a publicist.”
At SOLAR Records, Jones organized a luncheon for South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and handled publicity for Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign, booking him as the first candidate to make an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Regina Jones, Dick Griffey and Bishop Desmond Tutu, pictured right to left. (Triple 7 Public Relations)
“Dick gave me those gifts because he cared,” Jones said. “It changed my blackness, my black militancy into a whole different level of Black cultural understanding. And I’ll never forget that, and how much that meant to me.”
Within her formidable experience in Black media as publisher, public relations executive and a mother, Jones is still figuring out who exactly Regina Jones is.
Despite uncertainty, this pursuit of knowledge keeps her moving forward and filling up her cabinets of journals.
“We have to share these stories so that our history is documented, and our stories are kept,” she said. “To get over them, to move into a more enlightened state of awareness and learn how to love and support one another… and it’s not easy.”
Jones hopes that her now publicly broadcasted story will inspire young people to stay resilient and love themselves, no matter how much they get knocked down.
“Try to give love, but you can’t give what you don’t give yourself,” she said. “So just learn how to love and take care of yourself first and foremost. And that’s not being selfish.”
Weigel Broadcasting debuted the award-winning documentary “Who in the Hell is Regina Jones?” simultaneously across Weigel Broadcasting’s Dabl, Start TV and Story Television networks on Monday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET.
Mother, wife and publishing mogul Regina Jones. (Triple 7 Public Relations)