Biography

By the sound of them, you would think Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings started making funk-threaded soul music together in the 1960s. Few devotedly retro acts are as convincing. Few singers as skilled as Sharon Jones at stuffing notes with ache and meaning would be willing to invest in a sound so fully occupied by the likes of Bettye LaVette and Tina Turner in the Ike years, too. But what Jones brings to the funkified table has legs of its own -- eight of them, to be exact -- and they belong to Binky Griptite, Bugaloo Velez, Homer Steinweiss, and Dave Guy -- her Dap-Kings. Jones, like James Brown, was born in Augusta, Georgia; there she sang in her church choir, and from fellow parishioners picked up the kind of back-patting she needed to convince her to go mainstream. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Brooklyn, where she immersed herself in 1970s disco and funk with an eye toward cutting a record of her own. Instead, studios came calling and with them steady work -- by her twenties, Jones was turning in backup vocals for gospel, soul, disco, and blues artists, most of it uncredited. In the '80s, however, Jones' sound was deemed unfashionable, and instead of pushing ahead with her soul diva's dream she went back to church singing. She also took a job as a corrections officer at New York's Rikers Island. It wouldn't be until 1996 that Desco Records would rediscover Jones' sweat-basted, lived-in talent. With that label's house band, the Soul Providers, Jones released several singles in the late '90s; their warmth and genuineness propelled the act across the Atlantic, and Jones picked up a moniker -- the queen of funk -- that stuck. Jones released her first full-length with the Dap-Kings, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, after signing with Daptone Records in 2002. Years of touring behind it, as well as cutting singles with other artists (including Greyboy) ensued. In 2005, Jones re-teamed with the Dap-Kings for the winking groovefest that is Naturally, following it up two years later with 100 Days, 100 Nights. Jones also had a bit part in The Great Debaters as the singer Lila. A new studio effort, I Learned the Hard Way, appeared in 2010. In 2013, Jones revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer -- initially in the bile ducts, and later stage two pancreatic cancer -- but she continued to perform as often as her therapy schedule would permit, sometimes appearing on-stage with a bald head after chemotherapy caused her hair to fall out. In late 2013, Jones was well enough to complete work on the next Dap-Kings album, and Give the People What They Want appeared in 2014. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple premiered a film about the vocalist, Miss Sharon Jones!, at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival; Jones was in attendance for the debut screening, and revealed that her cancer had returned but defiantly added, "I'm gonna keep fighting, we got a long way to go." Fittingly, the determined Jones and the Dap-Kings returned in October 2015 with a collection of Christmas and Hanukkah tunes titled It's a Holiday Soul Party. As the film Miss Sharon Jones! was poised to go into theatrical release, in August 2016 Daptone Records released an original soundtrack album. The Miss Sharon Jones! album featured a selection of Jones' most memorable performances along with a new track, the autobiographical "I'm Still Here." ~ Tammy La Gorce

Top Albums
1. Miss Sharon ..	2. 100 Days, 10..	3. I Learned th..	4. Give the Peo..	5. Naturally
6. It's a Holid..	7. Dap-Dippin' ..	8. Soul Time!	9. Give the Peo..	10. This Land Is..
11. Daptone Supe..	12. Midnight Rid..	13. Little Boys ..	14. Can't Get Ri..	15. Goldfinger -..
16. Ain't No Chi..	17. Better Thing..	18. I Learned th..

Top Songs
	Name	Album	Time	Price
1.	100 Days, 100 Nights	100 Days, 100 Nights	3:45	$1.29
2.	Midnight Rider	Midnight Rider - Single	3:17	$1.29
3.	This Land Is Your Land	Naturally	4:31	$1.29
4.	How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?	Naturally	4:03	$1.29
5.	I Learned the Hard Way	I Learned the Hard Way (Bon..	3:47	$1.29
6.	Stranger to My Happiness	Give the People What They W..	3:31	$1.29
7.	I'm Still Here	Miss Sharon Jones! (Origina..	3:58	$1.29
8.	Please Come Home for Christmas	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	2:58	$1.29
9.	Making Up and Breaking Up (And Makin..	Give the People What They W..	2:23	$1.29
10.	Better Things	Better Things - Single	3:39	$1.29
11.	Be Easy	100 Days, 100 Nights	3:03	$1.29
12.	Nobody's Baby	100 Days, 100 Nights	2:27	$1.29
13.	How Do I Let A Good Man Down?	Naturally	3:02	$1.29
14.	Silver Bells	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	3:19	$1.29
15.	You're Gonna Get It	Naturally	4:59	$1.29
16.	Funky Little Drummer Boy	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	3:18	$1.29
17.	We Get Along	Give the People What They W..	3:03	$1.29
18.	Tell Me	100 Days, 100 Nights	2:46	$1.29
19.	Silent Night	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	4:16	$1.29
20.	Retreat!	Give the People What They W..	3:31	$1.29
21.	Ain't No Chimneys in the Project..	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	2:22	$0.99
22.	8 Days of Hannukah	It's a Holiday Soul Par..	3:42	$1.29
23.	Slow Down, Love	Give the People What They W..	4:02	$1.29
24.	People Don't Get What They Deser..	Give the People What They W..	3:25	$1.29
25.	When I Come Home	Soul Time!	2:54	$1.29

Top Music Videos
1.	2.	3.	4.	5.

Comments