Sharon Jones Dies After Cancer Battle

A big-voiced soul singer who performed with high energy onstage has died in New York after battling pancreatic cancer. Sharon Jones was 60.

Photo: Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com
DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, Mich.

Her representative Judy Miller Silverman says she died Friday at a Cooperstown hospital surrounded by her band, the Dap-Kings. Silverman says in a statement, “Thank you for your prayers and thoughts during this difficult time.”

Jones was diagnosed with Stage 2 pancreatic cancer in 2013.

Her story was told this year in a Barbara Kopple documentary called “Miss Sharon Jones!” The film documents her transformation into a cancer patient and back into a full-throated force.

Jones returned to the music scene with a 2014 Grammy Award nomination for her album Give the People What They Want and an album of holiday classics called It’s A Holiday Soul Party!