Goodbye, Miss Sharon Jones
Sharon Jones
Family, friends, fans and Dap-Kings gathered in Brooklyn at Brown Memorial Church in Brooklyn on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 to honor the life and work of Sharon Jones.
The memorial service was led by Rev. Miller and Pastor Fields from Sharon's church, Universal Church of God; and as has been customary at any Dap-King event, Binky Griptite served as the gracious emcee.
Charles Bradley, Capt Kirk from The Roots and many other figures from the music community.
There was song, and lots of it — from Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens, Ledisi, and the Universal Church of God choir. We got to hear about Sharon from her family members, from longtime friends like Lee Fields, and filmmaker Barbara Kopple, and from former manager Austen Holman, who read a well-chosen poem, "Gone Fishin'."
I joined those speakers with the following words. Today all I can add is, "Her work will speak for her."
I first met Sharon Jones over 10 years ago, when she and the band packed into WFUV Radio's performance studio, around the release of "100 Days, 100 Nights." Since then, The Dap-Kings and their Queen have been mainstays on WFUV.
Their songs have been listener favorites -- from all of their albums, up through the "Holiday Soul Party." The DapTone crew are local heroes to the New York music community, and Miss Sharon Jones has been its heartbeat.
Sharon was a fighter. She fought for her rightful place in music, for years, and finally breaking through in her 40's, which is practically a miracle in our industry. She fought for her band, to get the recognition they deserved. She fought for the music she loved to be heard.
And in the end she fought for her life, pushing through pain and nausea and exhaustion to give the people what they want.
Sharon once told me -- even before she was diagnosed -- that she would treat every show like it was her last. I heard her, loud and clear.
Neither one of us liked to waste time, we're the kind of women always on our feet, always on the move. We went through chemotherapy at the same time, and we compared notes with each other... about the drugs, about the side effects; about how it wasn't going to slow us down... but mostly about how lucky we felt, to have such love and support from family and friends, and to have lives surrounded by music.
Sharon was in the right business. Music heals. When she felt sick, she described getting on stage as her therapy. She was therapy for all of us. She gave me strength and inspired me always, not just as an artist but as a person. She had a lot of fans in the music world too. Prince once said to Sharon, "You took me to church." Then he got up on stage to play with her.
The last time Sharon was at FUV we were on the air talking music and the artists who inspired her through her life, and as I stand here now I recognize that those are the very artists she will be remembered with -- Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Prince.
Talk about a raise-the-roof voice: she had it.
Talk about soul: she had it.
Talk about moves: she had 'em. All of 'em.
Talk about charm: You haven't seen charm until you've seen Sharon pull a shy guy out of the audience up on stage with her.
I'll miss her on stage. I'll miss her stories. I'll miss having her on the radio, though now her songs will live on forever on the radio.
Let's carry that feeling with us always. Thank you, Sharon, for the songs. Thank you, Sharon, for the music. Thank you, Sharon, for showing us pure strength, and beauty, and humanity. You will be missed.
