SHARON JONES
DAPTONE SOUL DIVA BORN 1956
The first worldwide star of Daptone, Brooklyn’s soul regenerators, Sharon Jones was a Georgia-born vocal powerhouse who came late to fame but embodied the R&B/gospel traditions of energetic performance and emotionally committed singing. Moving to New York in 1970, she sang sessions and at weddings until 1996 when she sang back-up on a Desco Records date for soul man Lee Fields, improvising a prison rap on Switchblade using her ‘day job’ experience as a guard at Rikers Island (she was also a security guard for Wells Fargo). However, Desco folded and bassist/producer Gabriel Roth put together The Dap-Kings, house band for his new Daptone label, with Sharon as its focal point on a series of tight R&B/ funk albums from 2002’s Dap Dippin’ to 2010’s breakthrough I Learned The Hard Way. Her vibrant, fantastically energetic live shows, conjuring the energy of Tina Turner and James Brown, cemented her soul status. But shortly before 2013 LP Give The People What They Want was due to be released, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Recovering, she toured with energy little diminished. Sadly, the cancer returned; she died on November 18. Geoff Brown