Sharon Jones (singer)
| Sharon Jones | |
|---|---|
Jones performing at Pori Jazz in 2010
|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sharon Lafaye Jones |
| Also known as | Lafaye Jones |
| Born |
May 4, 1956 Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Origin | New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 18, 2016 (aged 60) Cooperstown, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1996–2016 |
| Labels | Daptone |
| Associated acts | Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings |
| Website | sharonjonesandthedapkings |
Sharon Lafaye Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want.
Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia, the daughter of Ella Mae Price Jones and Charlie Jones, living in adjacent North Augusta, South Carolina. Jones was the youngest of six children; her siblings are Dora, Charles, Ike, Willa and Henry. Jones's mother raised her deceased sister's four children as well as her own. She moved the family to New York City when Sharon was a young child. As children, she and her brothers would often imitate the singing and dancing of James Brown. Her mother happened to know Brown, who was also from Augusta.
Jones grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. In 1975, she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. She attended Brooklyn College.
A regular gospel singer in church, during the early 1970s Jones often entered talent shows backed by local funk bands. Session work then continued with backing vocals, often credited to Lafaye Jones, but in the absence of any recording contract as a solo singer, she spent many years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo, until receiving a mid-life career break in 1996 after she appeared on a session backing the soul and deep funk legend Lee Fields.
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