Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

 Born in Augusta, GA (home of James Brown, the artist to whom she is perhaps most often compared), she moved to Brooklyn at a young age, growing up in Bed Stuy and graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, and then attending Brooklyn College. She has also worked hard to become the soul revivalist icon she is today, and her success is well deserved and inspiring. Jones spent many years as a prison guard and an armored car guard as she picked up session work as a backup singer, and didn’t release a solo track until she turned 40. Her first full length record was Daptone’s first release: Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (2002); six more would follow. And she is, of course, a survivor: in 2013 she was diagnosed with cancer, canceling dates and delaying the release of Give the People What They Want while she fought it.

Daptone Records – that little indie label