Who’s Winehouse?

Some time in the mid-‘90s, veteran soul singer Sharon Jones auditioned with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.

“I was turned down at the time because I was too old,” the 51-year-old Jones recalls. “And now I already got the CD that he wants me to sing on. I’m not going to him; he’s coming to me to do something for him. Isn’t that amazing?”

Amazing indeed, as Sharon Jones (with her backing band, the Dap-Kings) is now knocking on the door of the kind of fame that old-fashioned, 50-something, ’60s-sounding soul singers don’t usually achieve late in their careers. Part of the explanation may be the group’s authenticity—from Jones’ powerful, don’t-do-me-wrong voice to the band’s old-school groove on their third record, “100 Days, 100 Nights,” this nine-piece soul machine has made something old new again. So much so, in fact, that the Dap-Kings also back Amy Winehouse on much of her album, “Back to Black,” and played with Mark Ronson at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.

While Jones sat in her car outside a beauty shop in Queens, she told us about being born with the funk, why she’s old school and if she has anything in common with Amy Winehouse.

Most of the songs on “100 Days, 100 Nights” are commands: “Tell Me,” “Humble Me,” “Be Easy,” “Answer Me,” “Let Them Knock,” “Keep on Looking.”
[Laughs] I never even really looked at it like that!

So do you consider yourself a woman who knows what she wants?
Oh, yes! I think at this age, 51, darn right I know what I want. That’s why I don’t take no junk from anyone. I don’t need no one to come in and show me how to do some steps, choreograph some steps for me so I can look like one of these videos out here. I don’t want that. I want my own thing, be my own thing and do what I do.

How do you explain the resurgence of the old-school sound?
It’s just something we never stopped doin’. Even when I used to go out and sing in wedding bands, we was always doing those soul covers: Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Whitney. [The industry] wasn’t doin’ a bunch of soul and R&B in the last few years. They be coming up with this pop and pop-hop, and hip-hop and dip-dop.

Can funk and soul be taught or do you have to be born with it?
It can be taught. Look at the Dap-Kings! My band is a bunch of young white boys. Besides me, [guitarist Binky Griptite] and [trumpeter Dave Guy]—he’s a mix of black and Italian. These guys learned this. They’ve studied the classics all [their] lives. You can learn it. I was just born with it.

OK. Well, what do you think of Amy Winehouse?
They’ll come telling me, “You jumped on Amy Winehouse’s bandwagon!” I say, “I ain’t jumped on nobody’s bandwagon. I inspired Amy years ago and she’s only been out here a few years. They jumped on our bandwagon.”

Do you have some things in common with her?
No, Amy’s got [things] in common with me. She wanted to sing funk and soul. I don’t have anything in common with her. She came to me. I haven’t even heard Amy Winehouse’s stuff. I ain’t even listen to her whole album.

Then you have no plans to adopt the beehive hairstyle?
Oh, hell no! Excuse me, Amy. You see my braids? That’s me. That’s my natural hair. You either see me with an afro or some braids laying down on my head.

What’s the most old school thing about you?
It’s just me. I am old school. I’m not trying to compete with the young girls like Beyonce and dress like them. I get out there on that stage and I sweat. I take my shoes off. I throw my hair back. I don’t know how old school that is.