2016 takes another huge hit and this one hurts, as the magnificent Sharon Jones, the singer who led a soul revival movement with her band the Dap-Kings, has died at the age of 60. Jones died on Friday in a New York hospital after a battle with pancreatic cancer, her representative said.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Sharon Jones has passed away after a heroic battle against pancreatic cancer,” the singer’s rep wrote in a statement. “She was surrounded by her loved ones, including the Dap-Kings.”
Jones recorded six albums with the Dap-Kings, all critics favorties but made a dent with her powerful live performances that always knocked em down. Despite her powerhouse voice, Jones failed to make a breakthrough for decades until a recording session led to a Dap-Kings album in 2002. British producer Mark Ronson was among those paying tribute. He used the Dap-Kings as the backing band for another soul revival star, Amy Winehouse, on her breakthrough album Back in Black, released in 2006.
He said: “Sharon Jones had one of the most magnificent, gut-wrenching voices of anyone in recent time.” Members of the band were at her bedside when she died, her representative, Judy Miller Silverman, said.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Sharon Jones has passed away after a heroic battle against pancreatic cancer,” the singer’s rep wrote in a statement. “She was surrounded by her loved ones, including the Dap-Kings.”
Jones had been battling stage two pancreatic cancer in 2013 and went into remission nine months later, but announced that the cancer had returned at the premiere of Miss Sharon Jones!, a documentary detailing Jones’ life and career. The cancer would be elevated to stage four, with tumors spreading to her lung, liver and lymph nodes, but she still kept on touring including opening for Hall & Oates on their summer 2016 outdoor shed tour. Check out her performance of Live at the Olympia to follow
J
