Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is a funk and soul group from Brooklyn, United States. Active from 1996 to 2018, the group is signed to Daptone Records, where the Dap-Kings also serve as the label’s house band.

Background and style

The group is associated with a revivalist approach to funk and soul, drawing on the sound of the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. Its recordings favour analogue equipment over modern digital methods, and its instrumentation is kept close to what would have been available in that earlier period.

Formation and early releases

The band forms in Brooklyn in 1996 out of the Soul Providers, a mid-1990s project built around Philip Lehman and Gabriel Roth, also known as Bosco Mann. Sharon Jones is first brought into the recording circle during a session for Lee Fields, where she records backing vocals. Roth and Lehman are impressed enough to cut solo tracks with her, including “Switchblade” and “The Landlord”. These appear on the Soul Providers’ debut release Soul Tequila, later reissued as the vinyl-only LP Gimme The Paw.

After Desco Records is set up, Jones records three 45s for the label backed by the Soul Providers, who become the Desco house band. In 2000, after Lehman and Roth split, Roth founds Daptone Records with Neal Sugarman and the Dap-Kings are formed.

Original Dap-Kings lineup and recordings

The Dap-Kings’ early line-up includes Gabriel Roth on bass, Neal Sugarman on saxophone, Binky Griptite on guitar, Earl Maxton on organ, Fernando Velez on percussion, Anda Szilagyi on trumpet, Leon Michels on tenor saxophone and Homer Steinweiss on drums. The band records Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings in 2001, originally pressing only a few hundred copies to help fund the band’s stay in Barcelona. It becomes Daptone’s first LP and CD release in 2002 after gaining attention from DJs and reviewers.

Additional singles from this period include “What If We all Stopped Paying Taxes” in 2002, “Genuine (parts 1 & 2)” in 2004, and a cover of “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” in 2005.

Later albums and lineup changes

In 2003, Daptone opens its recording studio with a sixteen-track analogue tape machine. The group’s second album, Naturally, appears in 2005 and mixes soul and funk more broadly than the debut. After its release, Leon Michels leaves and is replaced by Ian Hendrickson-Smith, a saxophonist who has released several jazz albums under his own name. Thomas Brenneck also joins on second guitar.

The third studio album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, is recorded in late 2006 and released in 2007. The single “I’m Not Gonna Cry” appears earlier in 2007 and continues the band’s hard funk style.

Collaborations and session work

The Dap-Kings work extensively with Mark Ronson, most notably on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, where six of the album’s eleven tracks feature members of the group, including “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good”. They also contribute to Ronson’s Version, appearing on all but one of its fourteen tracks. The Dap-Kings later become Amy Winehouse’s backing band for her first U.S. tour.

The group also works with Ben Westbeech on a new version of “So Good Today”, and Sharon Jones sings on Wax Tailor’s “The Way We Lived” from Hope & Sorrow.

Sharon Jones

Sharon Jones is born Sheron Lafaye Jones in Augusta, Georgia, and later moves to Brooklyn with her mother. As a child she imitates James Brown songs and dances with her brothers, and she begins singing in church at a young age. As a teenager in the early 1970s she performs in talent shows and with local funk groups. Before success with the Dap-Kings, she works in session singing, performs with wedding bands, and takes jobs including work as a prison guard on Riker’s Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo Bank.

Jones dies in 2016 from complications of pancreatic cancer. The group remains active until 2018.