E-mail a friendSharon Jones
airdate June 10, 2009
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are seen as pioneers in reviving soul and funk music. Jones' first full-length CD was released in '02, and her blistering live shows earned her the title "Queen of Funk." The Augusta, GA native started singing in church. After her family moved to Brooklyn, she made her living doing often uncredited session work, as a wedding singer and with day jobs that included a stint as a Riker's Island prison guard. Jones appeared in The Great Debaters, and her covers are included on the film's soundtrack.
Soul singer talks about meeting James Brown. (2:40)
Full interview. (10:15)
Sharon Jones
Tavis: Sharon Jones is a talented singer who fronts the terrific group, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. This Saturday here in L.A. she'll perform at the annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. You can also pick up a copy of her most recent CD, "100 Days, 100 Nights." From the disk, here's some of the video for "100 Days, 100 Nights."
[Clip]
Tavis: Got that nice retro look.
Sharon Jones: (Laughs.) Yes, it was that dress, I think. I liked the little --
Tavis: The little shimmy-shimmy?
Jones: Yeah, I like wearing that dress because when I walk out, when I put that dress on and look at the band, like, "Got my dress on." It's my dancing dress. I call that my Tina Turner dress. (Laughter.) So when I put that dress on (unintelligible).
Tavis: They know you're about to get serious with it. (Laughs.) Nice to have you here.
Jones: Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
Tavis: This is your first time playing the -- you and the group -- playing the Playboy Jazz Festival?
Jones: Yes, the jazz festival, the Playboy --
Tavis: You excited about that?
Jones: Yes, I am, yeah.
Tavis: It's a great festival.
Jones: We have been doing a lot of festivals, so they're all just coming in.
Tavis: I didn't realize this -- you were born in the same town as the Godfather?
Jones: Yeah.
Tavis: Augusta, GA.
Jones: Yes, Mr. James Brown.
Tavis: You a James Brown fan?
Jones: Yes, I am. I was a big fan of his. I got a chance to meet him April of 2006, and he passed away that Christmas, so yeah.
Tavis: So you met him later in life, then.
Jones: Yeah, I just met him in -- where were we? Italy, in Perugia. I think I pronounced that right.
Tavis: How funny is that, though? You're born in the same town, you're in the music business, and in 2006, just before he dies, you finally meet the guy?
Jones: (Unintelligible) met him. And I had performed on his stage. And that particular day, people around wanted me to sign my CDs, and I was like, "Look, come back tomorrow, bring the CD, I'll sign it tomorrow, but I have to go see Mr. James Brown." And literally got off the stage, took my heels off, had them in my hand, and ran down, all the way down the stairs. (Laughter.)
And (unintelligible) had to go a long way. And when I got there I still had the shoes in my hand and I'm like, got through the crowd and he was just coming out on the stage. And I just -- the crowd just opened up and let me stand right in front of the stage. I was just, like, mouth open. I enjoyed it. And I got a chance to run behind and at the end of the night -- took him a while, you know, to come down.
So I waited, like, 45 minutes for him. When he came out of the dressing room, I went, "Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown." He was like, "I got to pee." (Laughter.)
Tavis: That's James, keeping it real. (Laughter.)
Jones: He just came right out and he was, like --
Tavis: That's James, keeping it real.
Jones: They were like, "Go get a picture with him?" I'm like, "The man got to pee. I'm not going to follow him." And then he came out, so me, I'm getting smart, I jumped in the car with his wife. (Laughter.) I'm like, "Tell your husband, Mr. James Brown, that I've been following him and I love him." She's like, "Did I know you?" I'm like, "Maybe you've seen me before." "Have I seen you on television?"
"No, but you tell your husband." She says, "Wait a minute. I saw you on some comedy show." "You did not see me on a comedy show, but maybe you saw me on 'Conan.' But no, but I was --" and then he -- I was like, "That's all right, he's coming." And he came out. I just ran next to him, like "Mr. Brown, I just --" and he said, "God bless you, daughter." And we took the picture, and that was it. (Laughter.)
Tavis: Did you mention Augusta to him?
Jones: I couldn't mention anything.
Tavis: You didn't mention Augusta?
Jones: I couldn't say a word.
Tavis: Oh, man. (Laughter.)
Jones: All I could say, "Mr. Brown, I just follow you." He was like, "And god bless you, daughter." And that was it.
Tavis: See, if you said I'm from Augusta, GA, that would --
Jones: He probably would have just --
Tavis: That would have opened him up.
Jones: He probably, "Come on and get in the car."
Tavis: Exactly -- get back in the car.
Jones: I messed up. That was my fault.
Tavis: How did you know that music was your thing? And I ask that because you started, if I got your story right, and I think I do -- I'm pretty sure I do -- you started on this musical journey, it didn't end up or didn't take off the way you wanted it to, and you end up -- get this -- where am I at, Jonathan? Thank you. She ends up as a guard at Riker's Island.
Jones: That's a correction officer.
Tavis: Excuse me. (Laughter.) Do it again, Jonathan. Correction officer. Excuse me. (Laughter.) You were still at Riker's Island. You wasn't on stage with James Brown singing at that time.
Jones: Right.
Tavis: Tell me about this story.
Jones: Oh, man, well that -- I had taken a lot of the city tests. I took the police test, I took the post office test.
Tavis: Always work at the post office.
Jones: And I also went for a court officer. And the correction was the only one that accepted me. The police test, I was at an age where I was too old. Like well, if you had been two months before, then you would have been able to -- so they like everyone in the classroom, so I got out of that. Correction came, I was like, okay, I can handle this. I thought I could. They put me in with the men, and from '88 to '90 I was in corrections, but I wasn't working all the time. It was an omen. It wasn't meant for me.
I was in a car accident, I was in a back brace, I was out for, like, a year, almost, and so they were going to fire me since I was a new jack, so I resigned for medical reasons. But it was fun. I was with the men.
Tavis: But what do you make -- (laughter) that's a nice way to look at it.
Jones: Yeah, it was fun.
Tavis: What do you make of the fact, though, that on your way to becoming the Sharon Jones that we now know and love with the Dap Kings that you had all of these interruptions along the way?
Jones: Well, I think the main thing was when I was in the early '70s, going into the '80s, they just told me, you know the story, that I didn't have the look. You're too dark-skinned, you're too short, you're too fat; and once I passed 25, I was too old. But I always felt that God gave me a gift and one day, people were going to accept me for my voice, not the way I looked.
And then along come this little 21-year-old, Gabriel Roth. Twenty-one years old, they're doing funk and R&B. They're into James Brown and that soul, and they're making records. And I'm like, what? And when I met them, I'm like all these little -- (unintelligible) racial -- I'm like, "What is it with young White boys know about funk music?" And they just -- from that time my mouth was like. And they start playing, and I've been with them ever since.
Tavis: I know there are a lot of artists and a lot of would-be artists who have heard and will hear somebody, somebodies, tell them that they don't have this, they don't have that, you ain't this, you ain't that. How did you navigate your way through that?
Jones: Well, it was a lot -- just taking a lot of things. But I kept going. I never stopped singing, even though I took the jobs, correction and various jobs. I worked at law firms, I was a manager at this firm, but I just kept going. But I continued to sing, because church is always there, choirs, directing the choirs, singing in church.
Then I got with the wedding bands, doing the weddings. Then every once in a while I would do a little studio work here, a little background there. I never stopped, because in my heart I knew. I just said, God gave me a gift, and I'd just simply tell everyone, if you have a gift, something in your heart, don't let people deter you. Keep going. You've got to follow your dream, follow your heart.
Tavis: For those who have not heard -- first of all, shame on you if you haven't heard Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
Jones: Shame, shame.
Tavis: Shame, shame, shame. But for those who haven't heard, how would you describe the music? How would you describe the group?
Jones: oh, well, to me well, y'all retro. They keep throwing that "retro" at me. I say well, I don't consider myself retro, because to be 53 years old, I'm not retro. I am soul. (Laughter.) Ain't nothing -- nobody taught me how to sing, or I had to listen to a (unintelligible) song or Tina Turner and go, oh, I can sound like that. No, it's just natural.
Tavis: And you play the organ.
Jones: I played in church.
Tavis: That Hammond B3.
Jones: I play -- you know what organ? I don't even know about organs. I can play piano. To me, it's a piano organ. I play the organ like the piano. I don't be doing all that foot thing.
Tavis: You don't move your foot? You don't do that?
Jones: No.
Tavis: You ain't got the Jimmy Smith thing, you ain't doing all that? (Laughter.)
Jones: No. I've practiced in church -- (makes noises). (Laughter.) And it's just so hard. So I just usually take your left -- (makes noises) -- that's how I play. And the voice --
Tavis: Maybe it's because your legs are so short.
Jones: Maybe so.
Tavis: You can't get to the -- (laughter)
Jones: Yeah, I've got to sit up like that.
Tavis: You've got to slide up a little bit.
Jones: I know.
Tavis: That may be the answer. You're not far enough up on the seat.
Jones: You're right, you're right. Even at the church when I started playing a little voice came to me in church said, "Go play the piano." And I was, like, sitting on the stool (unintelligible). (Laughter.) And I just started playing with two fingers -- (makes noises) Oh, when the (makes noises) go marching (makes noises). And then I would listen to the bass player and I would like, oh -- (makes noises). And the guitar -- (makes noises) -- oh. And that's how I learned.
Tavis: So you just kind of taught yourself.
Jones: Taught myself. But all I can play is gospel. I don't think I can -- every once in a while, I might do a little Aretha Franklin. (Unintelligible) "Dr. Feel Good," I be trying to play that.
Tavis: "Dr. Feel Good."
Jones: (Unintelligible)
Tavis: You ain't got to play Aretha, you can play yourself. I love the Queen, but you're doing your thing.
Jones: Yeah, I want to meet Aretha and Patti and Tina. Anyway. (Laughter.)
Tavis: You'll meet them all. You're going to meet a whole bunch of folk this weekend at the Playboy Jazz Festival. (Laughter.) Her name, Sharon Jones, and the Dap Kings. The new CD, "100 Days, 100 Nights." If you are in L.A., and I think they've still got a few tickets left, you can get a ticket, you've got to go to the Playboy Jazz Festival, one of the best festivals in the world. So have a great time playing.
Jones: Oh, thank you.
Tavis: I'm sure it won't be your last time. Have a great (unintelligible).
Jones: No, 31 years, I'm glad to be down on that 31 years of the festival.
Tavis: Well, congrats in advance for a great show.
Jones: Well, thank you.
Tavis: Nice to have you here.
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