She’s a modern soul
15/12/2010 9:46:00 a.m.
Sharon Jones has a grip on soul.
Cammick founded rip it up 30 years ago, and has now found himself the DJ for the Sharon Jones and the Dap-King’s Auckland show.
“It’s a real honour to do the music for an act that I really like because most of the time I just work in a restaurant,” Cammick laughs. “Background music for eating is a bit different than music you do for a big show.”
Cammick recently saw 40 “legendary soul acts” in America in three weeks, used to import soul albums from the United Kingdom in the 60s, and used to swap New Zealand albums with David Fricke, senior editor at Rolling Stone, for “anything with a black man or woman on the cover”.
“It was a good way of getting New Zealand music overseas. Either way both of us received quite a lot of crap.”
Cammick rates Sharron Jones as the worlds top female Soul singer.
“She’s making records that are better than veterans like Betty LaVette, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Aretha Franklin. As an old soul fan it’s really good to see the old model replicated: an independent label owned by musicians using 1960s analogue equipment. It’s amazing that they’re become known all around the world – and it’s totally independent, it’s not being propped up by a big company.”
He’s never seen her live, however. Last time when she was here for Womad in 2008, Mavis Staples played in Wellington the same weekend.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Opera House, December 17.
