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Hear Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields & More on Daptone's 100th 45 A-Side

By: Jun. 13, 2019
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Hear Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields & More on Daptone's 100th 45 A-Side  Image

Today, Daptone Records has shared "Hey Brother (Do Unto Others)," the A-side to their recently announced 100th 45. Available June 28, the 45 is an unprecedented collaboration of talent from their legendary roster of artists. "Hey Brother (Do Unto Others)" features the late great monarchs of the Daptone family, Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, as well as Saun & Starr, the Frightnrs, James Hunter, Naomi Shelton, Duke Amayo and Lee Fields, singing a message of righteousness and brotherhood over a groove sewn seamlessly together by members of The Dap-Kings and Menahan Street Band.

Written by The Frightnrs, the song originally appeared on their acclaimed LP, Nothing More to Say. In the wake of the tragic loss of singer Dan Klein to ALS just before the album's release, Daptone felt it would be a fitting tribute to re-imagine the tune as a soulful collaboration between the dynamic vocalists on the label. What started as a thank you to the label's beloved fans has now also become a loving tribute to their lost Brothers and Sister: Charles Bradley, Dan Klein, Cliff Driver, and the label's eternal Queen, Miss Sharon Jones.

Listen to the moving track here:

Label co-founder Gabriel Roth (AKA Bosco Mann) tells Billboard, "everybody seemed to really love the idea of being together on a record like that... Every one of those singers that I asked, after I explained what we were trying to do, they really jumped through hoops to try to make it happen."

On the flip is the recently released and acclaimed "Soul Fugue" by The 100 Knights Orchestra, a massive ensemble comprised of every horn player the label has ever worked with (really!) including current and past members of The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, The Extraordinaires, The Soul Providers and the Daktaris. Recorded on the rarest of days, February 29th, 2016, they all crammed into the studio simultaneously to perform the epic composition composed and arranged obsessively by Bosco Mann, based on the Fibonacci series and the number 100. Anyone who was lucky enough to catch Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' final performance at Prospect Park Summerstage was lucky enough to see/hear this stunning piece of music in real time. Listen to "Soul Fugue" here: https://youtu.be/TXZFuBXzA2s.

The 100th 45 will be available as a Standard Black Vinyl 45, and as a limited edition die-cut picture disc of their classic globe logo (available at the Daptone Web-Shop ONLY). Daptone hopes that this disc forever lives as a token of their gratitude to their dedicated fans, and as a keepsake of their departed loved ones.

Daptone Records was founded in 2001 when musicians Roth and Neal Sugarman sought to build a new home for their bands' respective releases, after the dismantling of Desco Records. They then built their now iconic "House of Soul" in an unassuming, two family 19th Century brownstone in the heart of Bushwick, Brooklyn that would house the Daptone label and studio. Since then, the independent label has built a world-wide reputation for its discerning taste and uncompromising standards of quality - releasing only exceptionally soulful records, hand-crafted by a close family of particular musicians and music lovers who share a common musical philosophy, vocabulary and integrity.

With more than fifty full-length album releases as well as twice that many on collectable 45 rpm format, Daptone has sold over a million records to-date from artists including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Sugarman 3, Naomi Shelton, The Budos Band, Antibalas, Menahan Street Band, and Charles Bradley. Though never quite achieving pop mainstream status, their music has influenced countless artists and labels around the world, from young kids just discovering soul music to pop icons like Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and Jay-Z, who have quietly tapped the label's sound for some of their biggest hits.



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