Cast members of the TV show Good Times — (from left) Bern Nadette Stanis, Jimmie Walker, John Amos, and Ja’net DuBois — accept the TV Land Impact Award in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2006. (Fred Prouser / Reuters)

Ja’Net DuBois was an actress on Good Times, the ’70s sitcom. So her face was known across the nation. But her voice may be better known in the long run — because she sings “Movin’ On Up,” the Jeffersons theme song. She co-wrote it, too, with Jeff Barry.

I discuss her on my new episode of Music for a While. Play her, too.


Ja’Net DuBois died last month, and you may find an obit in the New York Times, here. It explains the inspiration behind “Movin’ On Up.” Before writing, or co-writing, the song, Ja’Net talked to her mother, about her mother’s aspirations. Her dreams of movin’ on up. Ja’Net wanted to give her mother a bunch of good things, including a house and a mink coat. Eventually, she did.

Norman Lear, who developed Good Times, The Jeffersons, and other shows, said, “Ja’Net DuBois was all light.”

Other things in my latest Music for a While? Two distinct arias from Agrippina (the Handel opera). A little piano piece by Galuppi. (Who? I explain.) Some miraculous Ravel. And some dancing with Mozart.

Give it a whirl (again, here).