10 reasons we love sharon jones

Sharon Jones became a worldwide sensation late in life. Born in Augusta, Georgia, She was still a young child when her mother moved Sharon and her six siblings, plus the four children of her deceased sister that she had taken in, to the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. Sharon Jones sang in gospel choirs in the 1970’s, graduating high school in 1975, and found her only opportunity in the music business in backup vocals. Recording industry suits that told her she was ‘too short, too fat, too black, and too old’ to have a career of her own. To supplement her singing, Sharon Jones took a job as prison guard at Rikers Island and worked security for Wells Fargo.
The door to the music business budged an inch when Sharon Jones took a gig backing sessions for Lee Fields in 1996. Over the course of several years, she was groomed by local Soul musicians who opened and closed a series of independent labels before forming the artist owned and operated Daptone Records label in Brooklyn, New York. The first album release for the fledgling Daptone label was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
Sharon Jones passed away from cancer in 2016 after defying the words of anyone telling her she would never make it in the music business. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings toured worldwide and helped bring Soul music back as something more than a retro-sound.

01 Make It Good to Me – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings)
Sweet Soul music was the sound of the first release from Daptone Records when the label began its run with Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Musically, the sound of Soul from Sharon and the band flowed from a bloodline that ran back to the music of the 1960’s. Horns and rhythm made music that could have been played in the Soul heyday.
Listen and buy the music from Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings on AMAZON


02 Genuine Pt. 1 – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album Soul Time!)
A jazzier sound backed the single “Genuine Pt. 1 & 2”. The two-sided single was released on vinyl by Daptone Records as Sharon Jones did some scatting over the horn pops and frenetic beat of the band. The single was later released on Soul Time!, an album that gathered together singles and unreleased cuts from throughout the early career of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
Listen and buy the music from Soul Time! on AMAZON


03 This Land is Your Land – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album Naturally)
Horns carve out a path for “This Land is Your Land” as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings provide a Funk Soul groove to the Woody Guthrie tune. The track landed on the 2005 release, Naturally. The tune, and the album, began to have a brand for Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings that went beyond a band in love with the classics and a group that was re-defining Soul music for the future.
Listen and buy the music from Naturally album on AMAZON


04 100 Days, 100 Nights – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album 100 Days, 100 Nights)
With the 2007 release of 100 Days, 100 Nights, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings moved from an underground Soul market into the mainstream. The songs, particularly the title track, were embraced on a larger level, making their way into college radio and specialty shows on taste-making stations like NPR.
Listen and buy the music from 100 Days, 100 Nights on AMAZON


05 Nobody’s Baby – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings   (from the album 100 Days, 100 Nights)
Snaking Soul takes a funky turn in “Nobody’s Baby”, also found on the 100 Days, 100 Nights release. The voice of Sharon Jones wore the skin of a defined character on the album. Sharon became a Soul sister that did not take any shit from anyone. The Dap Kings backed the persona with Soul music that had an ear for modern times.
Listen and buy the music from 100 Days, 100 Nights on AMAZON


06 Ain’t No Chimneys Up in the Projects – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album It’s a Holiday Soul Party)
Though it was put together on a future holiday album release (It’s a Holiday Soul Party), Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings released “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects” over several holiday seasons. The track captures growing up in the hood as a child who wanted to believe though the life around her was too real to have faith in a man with a big beard giving gifts.
Listen and buy the music from It’s a Holiday Soul Party album on AMAZON


07 I Learned the Hard Way – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album I Learned the Hard Way)
With her fourth studio album, Sharon Jones was the core of the Soul power behind the microphone for The Dap Kings. She is street-wise on the title track from I Learned the Hard Way as the band provides a solid foundation while the call-and-response harmonies have the back of a woman who is tender and tough.
Listen and buy the music from I Learned the Hard Way on AMAZON


08 Mama Don’t Like My Man – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album I Learned the Hard Way)
Girl group grooves and harmony echo in “Mama Don’t Like My Man” from I Learned the Hard Way. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings continue to update Soul for a modern market, honoring tradition with a the Daptone touch so the song sounds as fresh as the ideas circulating in the minds of the ladies that want love outside of a mother’s decision.
Listen and buy the music from I Learned the Hard Way on AMAZON


09 Stranger to My Happiness – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the Give the People What They Want)
Sharon Jones rapid fires lyrics for “Stranger to My Happiness” on the track from the final studio album from The Dap Kings, Give the People What They Want. The story steals a heart in the song as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings win over souls looking for salvation in the rhythm.
Listen and buy the music from Give the People What They Want album on AMAZON


10 I’m Still Here – Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (from the album Miss Sharon Jones)
Before she passed away, Sharon Jones saw her life story spread out on the big screen with the film Miss Sharon Jones. On “I’m Still Here”, Sharon Jones tells her life story from childhood into the hurdles of being an adult. The film was released while her cancer was in remission and Sharon Jones claims her spot on the planet as she stands in the center stage spotlight backed by The Dap Kings.
Listen and buy the music of Miss Sharon Jones on AMAZON ​