During Sharon Jones’ final days, the Grammy-nominated singer reportedly blamed president-elect Donald Trump for a stroke she suffered just 10 days before she passed away.
According to Dap-Kings member Gabriel Roth, Jones was watching Election Day coverage when the stroke had occurred. He told the Los Angeles Times that when he went to visit his bandmate in the hospital that night (Nov. 8), she pointed to the presidential results as the cause of her health condition, which, according to Roth, ultimately led to her death.
“She told the people that were there that Trump gave her the stroke. She was blaming Trump for the whole thing,” Roth told the L.A. Times. “She’d been fighting cancer for a few years now, and there’s been all kinds of stuff coming at her. But the thing that actually got her in the last couple of weeks was, she had a stroke watching the election results. After that first stroke she couldn't move her leg, but she could still talk."
Roth continued to shed additional light on the days leading up to Jones’ death. While in the hospital, Jones was surrounded by friends, family, as well as the rest of the Dap-Kings, who seemingly lifted her spirits with their music.
“It was kind of remarkable. She was just moaning at first, and then she was moaning in tune and then she started following chord changes and pretty soon she was humming ‘His Eye on the Sparrow’ […],” Roth explained. “We all just kept playing and singing with her, and little by little over the next couple of days she actually started moving her mouth and started singing lyrics. She just wanted to sing these gospel songs. Every time we'd stop, she’d just keep singing—‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Go Tell It On the Mountain,’ ‘This Little Light of Mine.’ We just stayed with her and sang with her and played music with her.”
Jones passed away Nov. 18 after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.
