Rest in Peace Sharon Jones

The Late Singer Sharon Jones 1956-2016

   NEW YORK (AP) - Sharon Jones, the stout powerhouse who shepherded a soul revival despite not finding stardom until middle age, has died. She was 60.

   Jones' representative, Judy Miller Silverman, said Jones died Friday at a Cooperstown, New York, hospital after battling pancreatic cancer. Loved ones and members of her retro-soul band, the Dap-Kings, were among those surrounding her, Silverman said.

   The story of Jones' battle with cancer, first diagnosed in 2013, was told in Barbara Kopple's documentary, "Miss Sharon Jones!" released earlier this year. Though she triumphantly returned to the stage in 2015 after the cancer went into remission, Jones late last year announced its return. Still, Jones mounted another comeback with the defiant single "I'm Still Here" and hit the road again this summer with the Dap-Kings even while undergoing chemotherapy.

   "You got to be brave," a debilitated Jones told the Associated Press in July , in between tour stops. "I want to use the time that I have. I don't want to spend it all laid up, wishing I had done that gig."

   Jones' death was immediately noted on social media and throughout the music industry. The British producer Mark Ronson, who brought the Dap-Kings in to play backing band to Amy Winehouse on her breakthrough album, "Back to Black," said, "Sharon Jones had one of the most magnificent, gut-wrenching voices of anyone in recent time."

   The youngest of six children, Sharon Lafaye Jones was born on May 4, 1956, in Augusta, Georgia. Her family lived in nearby North Augusta, South Carolina, across the Savannah River from the birthplace of James Brown. Jones, who would grow into a dynamic, show-stopping performer, grew up idolizing the Godfather of Soul and would later be frequently tagged as "the female James Brown."

   But for decades, such a fate was unimaginable. On "I'm Still Here," she sings of being turned down by music executives for being "too short, too fat, too black and too old."

   After growing up in Brooklyn (her mother moved to escape an abusive husband), Jones regularly sang gospel at her church, performed for years in a wedding band and sang back-up for various session bands. To make ends meet, she worked as a corrections officer at the Rikers Island jail complex and was a bank security guard.

   But in one recording session, she caught the attention of Gabriel Roth and Philip Lehman. The two, blown away by Jones' fiery voice, made her the lead singer of their newly formed Dap-Kings and launched the Bushwick, Brooklyn-based label, Daptone Records, around her unlikely star power.

   They debuted with 2002's "Dap-Dippin' With Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings," released when Jones was 46. Three more albums followed in the ensuing decade, and two compilations. Standouts included a soulful rendition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and the single "100 Days, 100 Nights," in which she belts: "100 days, 100 nights to know a man's heart/ And a little more, before, he knows his own."

   The sound, backed by walls of horns and tightly guided by bandleader Roth, was propelled by Jones' grit and ferocity. For her, soul and survival went hand in hand. Her torrid performances began, like Brown's, with a prolonged introduction from her bandmates.

   Jones never disparaged the better-selling British soul revival led by Ronson and Winehouse that coincided with her rise. But she wasn't shy about claiming to be the more genuine article.

   "We've been there, and we're still doin' this," Jones told New York magazine in 2010. "In another few years, what are they gonna be doin'?"

   Their sixth album, "Give the People What They Want" earned Jones her first Grammy nomination for best R&B album. Their last album, "It's a Holiday Soul Party," was released last year.

   Kopple witnessed the charismatic Jones light up hospital wards while undergoing chemo. "When people are around or there's an audience, that gives her fuel and she forgets her pain," the director said ahead of the release of "Miss Sharon Jones!"

   Even while suffering the effects of her cancer and its treatments, the workmanlike Jones toured relentlessly

   "It's therapy," Jones said of performing in July. "I know I need rest and sleep. But I want to work and that is our job."

Captain John Komba Obituary

Kutoka Daily News 

 Mbinga West MP Komba is No More

Published on Sunday, 01 March 2015

By DEOGRATIAS MUSHI 

The late Captain John Komba 

 Mbinga West Member of Parliament and Member of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) National Executive Committee (NEC) Captain John Damian Komba is no more. He died at TMJ hospital in Dar es Salaam Today, where he had been admitted few hours before he breathed his last.

The Tanzania One Theatre (TOT) Secretary General Mr. Gasper Tumaini said that medical reports show that Komba was suffering from Pressure and Diabetes. According to him, Captain Komba was admitted to Sanitas Medical Clinic in Dar es Salaam a week ago, and after two days his health improved and he was discharged. Secretary, Mr Nape Nnauye meanwhile, expressed shock and sadness over the sudden passing of Capt Komba saying that the void he has left behind would be difficult to fill.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Nnauye said that the party’s National Chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete, had received the news with great shock. He said that the president has sent condolences to the late Capt Komba’s family and noted that he knew the deceased well because he had worked with him for many years. “Capt Komba was a veteran cadre, an artist, a music composer and he will be dearly missed.

He composed a song during the 38th anniversary of the party which touched many hearts, now it seems it was his way of saying goodbye,” he said. He said that he would forever be thankful to the late Komba because it was he who convinced his late father to enroll him into the party after completing national service and that the party sent heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

 Captain Komba was born on March 18, 1954, then joined Lituhi primary school in 1963. After completing standard seven in 1970, he joined Songea boys secondary school where he completed in 1974, then joined Cleruu Teachers Training College where he attained teaching certificate in 1976. In 1978 he joined Monduli Military Cadet Training Unit in Arusha where he got a diploma, and then studied at Magdeburg Path in Germany where he got a diploma in politics. Captain Komba then joined Washington International University in 2006, where he was awarded BA in political science in 2008. During his life time, Captain Komba served Tanzania People's Defence Forces as Army Officer from 1978 to 1992.Before he had been employed by the Ministry of Education(1977 and 1978). Between 1992 and 2005 Captain Komba was TOT Executive Director, doubling also as CCM Chief Culture from 1992 to date. He served as Mbinga West member of Parliament from 2005, and also as member of CCM's National Executive Committee (NEC) from 1987 to date.

While in Parliament, Captain Komba once questioned why Tanzania did not unite with Burundi and DR Congo since the three governments of Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya had teamed up and set up an alliance within the community. He even threatened to embark on a rebellion if the Constituent Assembly (CA) could adopt a three-government system as it was proposed in the second draft constitution. He also questioned the rationale of Tanzania remaining in the EAC in light of actions which clearly sidelined it.

 He was once quoted saying he would be the last person to endorse the three-tier Union model and that he would defend the status quo at all costs. "Woe unto you if you will be persuaded to buy the idea of a three-government system. I will retreat into the forest to fight for the two-tier Union structure," he warned amid laughter. His body has been preserved at Lugalo hospital, pending funeral arrangements.