Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

A studio album recorded during the group’s summer residency in Barcelona, Spain was released in very limited numbers in 2001, with a much larger run the following year after the album was championed in the retro funk press. Jones and Roth received the majority of the praise, the former for her controlled, passionate vocals and the latter for his crisp analogue production. A number of personnel changes ensued over the next two years, with Zapata, Maxton and Szilagyi leaving and Sugarman, David Guy (trumpet) and Tommy Brenneck (guitar) added to the line-up. Roth also took a back seat for a while following a serious car accident. Naturally, released in 2005, accentuated the group’s soul leanings, although there was still a number of full-on funk numbers in place. Michels left shortly afterwards to run the Truth & Soul label and was replaced by Ian Hendrickson-Smith. During the next two years the profile of the Dap-Kings expanded beyond the funk and soul circuit when they were hired to work on a number of projects by DJ/producer Mark Ronson, the most notable of which was UK singer Amy Winehouse’s 2006 Back To Black and Ronson’s own Version in 2007. The Dap-Kings also served as Winehouse’s backing band on her first US tour. During this period they also released their most commercially successful album, 100 Days, 100 Nights.