Sharon Jones

Sharon Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia, but moved to Brooklyn as a teenager, where she immersed herself in 1970s disco and funk with an eye toward cutting a record of her own. By her twenties, Jones was turning in backup vocals for gospel, soul, disco, and blues artists, most of it uncredited. Desco Records rediscovered Jones' lived-in talent in 1996, and with that label's house band, the Soul Providers, Jones released several singles in the late '90s. 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. Jones valiantly fought pancreatic cancer following a diagnosis in 2013, but died from the disease in November 2016 at age 60. ~ Tammy La Gorce