1. While some people dreaded having to go back
to work after the holidays, Sharon Jones couldn’t
wait to get back to her job performing and pro-
moting her new album, Give the People What They
Want. At the same time, the Dap-Kings’ front-
woman was nervous. Though almost out of the
woods from her bout with stage-two pancreatic
cancer (she still takes tests to be sure the cancer
is gone), performances on Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Late
Night with Conan O’ Brien and Jimmy Kimmel were
within a week, and she was on pins and needles
about being seen bald for the first time on televi-
sion. But on Jones, it’s a bronzed crown that ap-
pears as regal and soulful as when she wore her
signature two-strand braids. As she shimmied in
a little black dress and belted out “Stranger to My
Happiness” on Ellen, she beamed. There was no
evidence that weeks before, she worried about
looking tired and not being up to the task.
Two animated videos, “Ain’t No Chimneys in
the Ghetto” and “Retreat,” the album’s first sin-
gle, show Jones as the resilient fighter that she is.
Though Jones admits to being nervous about com-
ing back out on tour, she talks about how “Retreat”
took on new meaning after she beat cancer.
Ghettoblaster: How are you, Sharon?
Sharon Jones: I’m much better. I took my last chemo
treatment Tuesday, New Year’s Eve. I even went to
a New Year’s party. The center, the medical center
where I’ve been doing my chemo, they had a little
New Year’s gala, so I went on and paid my $200
bucks for a ticket and went out there and enjoyed
myself. I did a little dancing; I felt it a little bit yes-
terday—my muscles were a little sore, because I
hadn’t used them in months, but I’m really feeling
great. I’m in the process of healing and working at
the same time, but that’s what I want to do.
I’m just glad God blessed me enough to take the
sickness away. I still got a few more tests they want
to run on me to make sure all the cancer is gone
for real. The doctor said he got all of it. They had
to take the head of my pancreas and part of my
gall bladder and small intestine. He said he noticed
when they removed the head of the pancreas that
the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. So I do
have pancreatic cancer, stage two, so that’s why I
had to take the chemo for six months. Once he
told me that, I thought I was going to die. I just
thought this album was going to be out, and people
was gonna be buying it and remembering me, and I
was never going to get to perform the songs on the
album. And look at me now, months later; I’m doing
much better, and the doctors are amazed at how
well and how fast I’m healing.
GB: How has fan support brought you
through the healing process?
SJ: My fans are what got me back. When I sit down
and read my fans’ mail and the love that they send…
Oh, nothing but positive prayers and love. And even
some of the people who are cancer patients send
me pictures and say, “I got through this. You can get
through this. You’re on your way.”
GB: What’s something that you left behind
in 2013, and what are you looking forward
to in 2014?
SJ: What I left behind is that I’m a different person.
I’m a different Sharon than I was in 2013, because
I thought that Sharon was gone. And right now in
my life, just being around folks and watching my
mother go—I mean, the last three years have been
a process of me getting my mother a home, and
then she passed away. I was still in the mourning
process with my mother when my sickness came.
And my family, you know, there’s so much negative
stuff. We just can’t get together. So as for what I
left behind, I told everyone, “Anybody that’s gonna
be around me, if you’re not positive, if you’re not
coming at me with something good, I don’t want it
around me.” I think people should be happy. Take
more time out for being happy. Look around you;
make sure your loved ones are loved. If you’re mad
at a person, go to that person and talk to them.
GB: One of the things I remember about in-
terviewing you is that you are great to en-
gage with, because you’re so real and so hon-
est about things.
SJ: And that’s one of the things in these interviews,
is that I hope I’m not being too truthful, but I gotta
express myself. I gotta get it out. The guys say, “I
bet you can’t wait to get back out there,” and I say,
“Yes, but I’m really nervous. I’m really scared. I don’t
know what to expect.” With my other shows, you
know, my hair, the dress with the little fringe; all of
that is part of me. I put that out there, and that’s a
character. I’m still Sharon Jones, but when I’m on
that stage, I’m the entertainer Sharon Jones. Now
I’m going back on the stage, and I don’t have that
hair. And I don’t have my little fancy dresses right
now. I say I don’t wanna put that on right now. So
now I have to find something else to come out with.
You go in these stores, and the stuff they sell I’m
not happy with. When I come back on tour, I might
wear a hat some nights. I’m comfortable with my
hat, and I’m comfortable without; it doesn’t matter.
But as the hair is growing, I don’t wanna go up there
and have little specks or little blotches. I know it’s
gonna come back. So all of this I’m looking forward
to when I go on TV. I’m holding the mic—people
are looking at my hands and will see my nails are
turning black from the blood coming out of them.
So that’s what I’ve been thinking about so far, and
of course I’m nervous. My feet actually look like I’ve
been running around the jungle for the last 25 years
with no shoes on. That’s how chemo has affected
my nails and feet. So I have to wear some shoes to
try to cover up my feet up. Everybody’s like, “Aw,
ain’t nobody gonna notice all that!” Don’t tell me
nobody’s gonna notice! You can’t tell me that. Just
bear with me, let me do what I have to do to keep
me happy and come back out there and feel good
about myself. It’s a total change.
GB: I can imagine that. How has being with
the band helped you through this process?
SJ: Oh, them guys have just been, like I said… Gabe,
he never stopped, and Bosco, the bass player and
the head of Daptone Records, he threw out all his
ideas and just sent us an email ordering the sets:
“How are we going to do this if Sharon can’t be
on the stage at all and has to walk off.” They got
it planned. We’ve never had to do what we’re do-
ing now. We’d just go ‘head and do the songs and
go out on tour. They all keep calling, and I have to
be strong for them, let them hear my voice. But I
also let them know, “Yes, I am nervous.” I don’t
know what kind of energy I’m going to have when
I get back out there. I wish I would’ve had the next
three weeks to do nothing but work out and do
the vocal training and get my strength up, but we
got TV shows to do. We got stuff to do. And I’m
glad we’re going to be out there doing it, because
at least with the TV shows I’m not on the stage.
You’re only standing there singing one song. That’s
pretty good. And I’m prepared. I’m curious to how
I’m gonna look on TV, what they’re going to do with
the makeup. From the chemo, there’s all these dark
areas on my face; it looks like there’s a stripe going
across my face, right across my nose. Up above my
lip, there’s a lot of little hair, so my little mustache
done came out.
GB: I know in the past you guys have done
extended versions of your songs—has your
doctor said that you need to cut the sets
down or only do a couple of songs?
SJ: You know what? My doctor can’t even tell me.
Nobody can tell me. It’s all up to me and how I feel.
The band, all they gotta do when I get out there is
watch me. If I turn to Gabe and say, “Psst…I can’t
do no more,” they got it where if I gotta walk off,
we got the girls that can come out. We got a whole
thing going on. Even before we walk out, I might
just take advantage of that, come out, maybe do a
little something, walk off and come back out. I don’t
know yet. It’s all up to when we get there and start
rehearsing and when it comes time for the show.
Words: Mildred C. Fallen
Don’t Call It a Comeback
SHARON JONES
“The guys say, ‘I bet you can’t
wait to get back out there,’
and I say, ‘Yes, but I’m really
nervous. I’m really scared. I
don’t know what to expect.’”
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