Sharon Jones has died at the age of 60. The vocalist of soul and funk revival band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings passed away after a sustained battle with pancreatic cancer. According to a statement, she was surrounded by her loved ones, including the Dap-Kings.
Jones was first diagnosed with cancer in 2013. Following surgery and treatment the singer was back to touring with the band by early 2014. Her cancer returned in November of 2015, almost two years after the release of the band’s album Give the People What They Want.
Born in North Augusta, South Carolina in 1956, Jones moved to New York with her family as a young child. She grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Before the release of her 2002 debut, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Jones worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and spent time as wedding singer. In 1996, Jones met Gabriel Roth, the Dap-Kings’ bassist and Daptone Records co-founder at a recording session, and was asked to join the band as it’s lead singer. She’s spent her entire career working with Daptone Records. In the 2000s, she helped build the label’s studio in Bushwick.
Jones was the subject of a recent documentary, Miss Sharon Jones!, chronicling her first battle with cancer and her relationship with the Dap-Kings.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly indicated that Jones returned to touring in fall 2013. She returned to the stage in early 2014.
