Sharon Jones (Sharon Lafaye Jones, May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want. Born Sheron Lafaye Jones, on May 4, 1956 in Augusta, Georgia, she moved to New York at an early age and lives there now, recording for independent Brooklyn based recording label Daptone Records. As a child, she and her brothers would often imitate the singing and dancing of James Brown, who was also from Augusta Georgia. A regular gospel singer in church, Jones often entered talent shows backed by local funk bands in the early 1970s. Session work then continued with backing singing, often credited to Lafaye Jones, but in the absence of any recording contract as a solo singer, she spent many years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo Bank, until receiving a mid-life career break in 1996 after she appeared on a session backing soul and deep funk legend Lee Fields.
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