Family, friends and fans made the trek to Brooklyn, New York and Augusta, Georgia last week to pay tribute and honor the legacy of the late, great Sharon Jones. The soulful crooner, songwriter and phenom was the epitome of grace and power when she hit the stage. To learn that she lost her battle with pancreatic cancer was a heartbreaking moment for us all. To show just how much she meant to us, directors Alex Howard and David Drew Hatter have released the stop-motion music video, “Please Come Home For Christmas,” which was planned to be dropped before Sharon passed on.
Produced from the group’s holiday album, It’s A Holiday Soul Party!, the claymation video is done up in the style of Romeo Muller‘s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special from 1964. Built from over 3200 single photos, recorded on an iPhone 6-Plus with a Stop-Motion application, “Please Come Home For Christmas” took three months, 12 cans of flocking and 600 man-hours to produce the cold, wintery setting.
To make matters even more interesting, Sharon’s critically-acclaimed documentary, Miss Sharon Jones! will be available for streaming on Netflix beginning January 7. Directed by Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA), the doc follows the frenetic frontwoman through her 2013 battle with cancer and the release of her 2014 album, Give The People What They Want.
Truly, Sharon was a testament to tenacity, the strong will to live and love, and she will be sorely be missed by us here at Okayplayer.
Daptone Records co-owner / The Dap-Kings bandleader, Gabriel Roth, recently sent out a letter to fans saying, “Our friend Sharon has always been at the heart of Daptone and always will be. I am so grateful to her and to all of you for putting your hearts into all of this in so many ways.” Like them, we wish that she could have been here with us for this Christmas season and many more. Though she may be gone, she’ll forever shine in our hearts and minds, so pay tribute to her memory, press play and spread some Yuletide joy with your family + friends by watching “Please Come Home For Christmas” below.
The post Pay Tribute To Sharon Jones By Watching Her Last Video, “Please Come Home For Christmas” appeared first on Okayplayer.
