Sharon Jones RIP

I've been writing this blog for over a decade now and simply can't remember a year when so many musical greats, big or small (fame wise that is), have passed away. In less than 12 months we've now lost...deep breath...Lemmy, Bowie, Black (aka Colin Vearncombe), Prince, George Martin, Scotty Moore (Elvis' guitarist), Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic keyboard maestro), Prince Buster, Dave Swarbrick, Pete Burns, Leonard Cohen, Billy Paul (singer of Me and Mrs Jones), Keith Emerson, Maurice White (Earth Wind and Fire), Glenn Frey (The Eagles) and now Sharon Jones, the godmother of the early noughties soul revival. If you've ever been fortunate enough to have seen Sharon and the Dap-Kings live you'll know just what a loss this latest passing is. Despite not finding fame until she hit her forties I've yet to see a performer who put quite so much energy, passion and, yes, SOUL into a performance (as the above clip, also featuring a little bonus appearance from Prince, clearly shows) and even after being diagnosed with cancer she continued playing whenever she could, even if that was in the hospital wards where she was receiving treatment.

RIP Miss Jones. x