Will ‘Dub’ Jones; Sang Bass in the Coasters

Will “Dub” Jones, 71, the bass vocalist for the Coasters who delivered signature lines in rollicking rock ‘n’ roll hits such as “Yakety Yak,” “Charlie Brown” and “Along Came Jones.” The longtime Long Beach resident and native of Shreveport, La., sang the familiar deep-voiced hook line “Don’t talk back” in the 1958 No. 1 hit “Yakety Yak” and the playfully forlorn line “Why’s everybody always picking on me?” in the 1959 tune “Charlie Brown,” which reached No. 2 on the U.S. pop charts. Jones, an Army veteran, came to prominence in another Los Angeles-based R&B; vocal group, the Cadets, which began in the late 1940s as a gospel act and scored a hit with “Stranded in the Jungle” in 1956. The Coasters, who first assembled in 1955 and had already scored hits such as “Searchin’ ” and “Young Blood,” selected Jones to replace original bass singer Bobby Nunn in their lineup in 1958. The Coasters’ series of sly, upbeat Top 10 hits--all written by seminal songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller--ended with “Poison Ivy” in 1959, but their influence landed them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the hall’s second year of inductions. Jones turned his career back to gospel in the 1970s and performed with groups such as the Mighty Travelers. On Jan. 16 in Long Beach after a prolonged battle with diabetes.