Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Biography
In 1996, church singer and former corrections officer Sharon Jones was the only one of three requested backing vocalists to show up for a session with Lee Fields and the Soul Providers. The Soul Providers were so impressed with Jones that they cut a couple tracks together, and Jones' star in New York's burgeoning soul/funk revival scene began slowly to rise. Fast-forward to 2000, when ex-Soul Provider Gabriel Roth (aka producer Bosco Mann) co-founded Daptone Records with Neal Sugarman of the Sugarman 3 and the Dap-Kings were born.
In 2002, the label released Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings first album, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, which included a cover of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately," to universal acclaim. Their second album, Naturally (Daptone Records, 2005) included a reworking of "This Land is Your Land," turning Woody Guthrie's folk song into a funk song. Now, over a decade later, the eleven-piece band has toured the world and recorded five albums in total, cementing their reputation as soul music royalty. In early 2014, after a delay due to Sharon Jones' battle with pancreatic cancer, the band released their fifth album, Give the People What They Want.
