Sharon Jones and Lee Fields - successes 40 years in the making

When Ed Sheeran, a mere child of about 13 years of age, I’ll wager, won his two – count ’em and weep, music lovers – Brit Awards last week, mention was made of the dues he had paid in order to make it to the crappermost of the poppermost.

There was something about gigs in double figures, sleeping on friend’s couches and whole weeks of not making it in the biz. Man, that must have been tough for a teenager.

Now imagine what it must be like for a musician of actual talent to graft for decades without much success. There are countless jobbing players out there making a modest living who have probably long given up the prospect of any wider recognition for their work. But two singers who have prospered later in life will be making their presence felt in Scotland in the coming weeks.

Both Sharon Jones and Lee Fields have found that the public appetite for good old fashioned rhythm’n’blues testifying has come round again, bringing with it an opportunity for star billing for the first time in around 40 years.

Their paths to belated recognition have been similar. Both were born in southern USA – Jones in Georgia, Fields in North Carolina – and grew up singing in church before embarking on careers in touring funk bands which saw them through the 1970s. Jones also found work as a session singer, while Fields – nicknamed Little JB for his vocal similarity to James Brown – released a string of collectable (i.e. obscure) singles.

There were protracted lean periods when both stopped singing altogether. Jones worked for many years as a prison officer on New York’s infamous Rikers Island before making a gradual comeback which began with singing on a Fields session in the 1990s. Fields returned the favour, guesting on her 2005 album Naturally. By this point, both singers were front and centre again with their own backing bands.

Fields performs with The Expressions, the house band at his Truth & Soul label, and Jones with The Dap-kings, house band of the Daptone label and Mark Ronson’s sessioneers of choice (they backed Amy Winehouse on her Back to Black album). Both are class acts, powered by a pair of singers who can really lay it down vocally. Make no mistake, this is not the manicured soul pop revivalism of, say, Aloe Blacc, but pure cathartic passion, which sounds all the sweeter for being a long time coming.

• Sharon Jones plays the ABC, Glasgow, on 6 March; Lee Fields plays the same venue on 6 April and releases his new album, Faithful Man, on 12 March.

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