Believe it or not, there's more than just gin and opiates behind Amy Winehouse (who, according to MTV.uk, is on suicide watch, though Pagesix.com reports that she's trying to shape up for the Grammys, but only after a major holiday bash/bender). The Dap-Kings, a Brooklyn-based funk-soul collective, are the true unsung heroes of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album.
Mark Ronson recruited the Dap-Kings as Amy Winehouse's studio musicians, and they're responsible for Back to Black's lush, brassy 1960s sound. And while the Mark Ronson-Amy Winehouse association may have made more listeners familiar with the Dap-Kings, they've been quietly, masterfully putting out Stax-style soul albums with nary a note of mimetic schmaltz for over a decade. (We saw them perform at Mercury Lounge a few years ago, around the release of Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and we were surprised that lead singer Sharon Jones -- a female James Brown, less the wife-beating stuff -- didn't leave behind a trail of embers in her wake, because the woman is truly a barnburner.)
+ Check out Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings' brand-new video, "100 Days, 100 Nights," off the widely heralded album of the same name.