Soul singer Sharon Jones made a mistake that millions of women would kill for the chance to make – because she made it in front of dreamy Denzel Washington. Washington hired Jones to sing in his film “The Great Debaters,” and liked her so much he expanded her role.
“I said something stupid, like, ‘Oh man, I been practicing my line,'” recalls Jones, who plays Central Park Summerstage this afternoon with her band the Dap-Kings. “And he’s like, ‘What? Did you hear Sharon say she was practicing her line? You don’t practice your line! You just be yourself!'”
For Brooklyn-based Jones, whose slinky brand of hot buttered soul recalls a time gone by – namely, the girl-group ’60s and funkadelic ’70s – it’s a blessing that she gets to play at all in such rarefied company. Jones, 52, sang in church as a child, and spent much of her adulthood in wedding and cover bands. But, she says, despite an affinity for the rhythms and power of soul, her looks held her back.
“I was shunned a lot coming up,” she says. “I didn’t have ‘that look.’ I was short, dark-skinned – they said fat. Then, once I got past 35, I was old. I wasn’t what people thought you’re supposed to see in magazines and on MTV.”
So while she always sang, she earned her living in far less glamourous professions, including two years as a prison guard at Rikers Island.
“I made a mistake and told [the inmates] I was a singer,” she says. “I had to lock them into their cells. So they said, ‘Alright, Ms. Jones. We’ll lock up when you sing.’ I had to sing a verse of ‘The Greatest Love [of All].’ The inmates told me that I wasn’t gonna make it as a prison guard, because ‘You’re too nice. You have too much love in your heart.'”
In the mid-’90s, Jones hooked up with an indie label called Desco. Backed by a group called the Soul Providers, she gained recognition in Britain as “the Queen of Funk.” When Desco folded in 2000, she regrouped with several of the Soul Providers and some new players to form her current band, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
Since then, the band, which has released three albums, has gained international recognition for its brand of old-school funk, soul and R&B. They’ve appeared on Conan O’Brien, been sampled by Kanye West and even performed at film mogul Harvey Weinstein’s stealth wedding.
“First they told us it was a Christmas party because they didn’t want the publicity,” recalls Jones. “They wanted me to sing when [the couple] was coming in. So I did ‘At Last,’ and Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were sitting right there looking in my face, and she was all pregnant and everything. She was so cute.”
While the act as a whole has certainly gained a fan base, its members have also been recognized separately. Jones toured as part of Lou Reed’s “Berlin” ensemble and sang on recent releases by They Might Be Giants and Rufus Wainwright.
The Dap-Kings, meanwhile, famously served as the backup band for half the songs on Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” including the smash hit “Rehab,” and her first US tour.
Jones is nervous about what too much success might do to her beloved act.
“I’m so afraid,” she says. “I watched in the ’60s where a lot of the famous groups, once the fame comes, they always break up. Right now, I’m looking at things and, like, our fame is coming. I hope nobody breaks up!”