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After years of backup singing and working as a prison guard, Sharon Jones, the Queen of Funk, finally found recognition for her talent in midlife. - Submitted photo

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You get the feeling Sharon Jones knows what it's like to wait when she belts out "Ooh, baby, tell me how lo-o-ong do I have to wait for you, honey?"

And not just for a two-timing lover.

Bring up her name these days, and it's inevitable that Amy Winehouse's name comes up as well. Jones' band, the Dap-Kings, played on six of the 11 tracks on Winehouse's 2006 breakthrough debut, "Back in Black," including the title track and "Rehab." The drug-addled British soul singer was just 22 at the time, and has become the poster child for the soul and funk revival.

Today, at the age of 52, Jones is a big enough name to have played at places like Bonnaroo, where her set this past summer was one of the most talked about of the festival. She and the Dap-Kings are also big enough to headline a show at the Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3.

But it was a different story for Jones when she was Winehouse's age. When she was trying to make a name for herself as a singer in New York City at 22, the year was 1978. Soul was fading, and pop was taking its place. The Whitneys and the Janets were rising up.

Besides singing in a passe genre, she also didn't have the look label executives were after.

"They were looking for girls who were light-skinned and tall," said Jones. "They told me I was too dark-skinned, too short, that I was too fat. And then, once I turned 25, they told me I was too old."

Jones spent the 1980s temping and working odd jobs, including as a prison guard at Rikers Island and as a guard for a Wells Fargo Bank armored truck. On the weekends she kept singing: in neighborhood bands, at wedding receptions, in the church choir and as a studio backup singer.

In 1996, a saxophone-playing boyfriend connected her with soul and funk legend Lee Fields' producers, and she suddenly got her big break. Since she joined the Dap-Kings in 1998, she's been crowned the Queen of Funk, toured with Lou Reed and played a soul singer in the Denzel Washington film, "The Great Debaters."

Looking back on it now, she said what's kept her going through all those years of obscurity and day jobs was her faith.

"I pray in the good times and the bad times. That faith kept me with my music because I always felt that this is a gift, and that one day people would accept me for my voice, not my color, not my size or how I look," she said recently from her home in Queens, back for a short break from touring.

Those breaks don't come very often, and when they do, she has to catch up on a lot of everyday errands. On the evening of the interview, she was loosening her hair, curl by curl, before getting it re-twisted in the salon the next morning.

These breaks at home also mean doctor's appointments, and she recently found out she had a benign lump in her left breast. Her mother had a mastectomy twenty years ago, and waiting for lab results has left her "all pins and needles."

Going out on tour keeps her from stressing out at home and eating too much -- her weakness when she's worried, she said. It also refocuses her on the music.

Jones sees herself as a storyteller, whether it's her story or someone else's story. When she performs, she seeks out eyes in the crowd and looks for the stories they're telling.

"I love that eye contact. I lock with them. I love it when I hear people say, 'It seems like she's singing to me.' I gotta be able to tell that story," she said. "That's why when I get on that stage at night, no matter how often I sing that same song, each night it's going to be a little different and have a different spirit."

That gets a loop of energy flowing. She and the band and the audience feed off of each other until anyone who comes in feeling bad leaves with enough good vibes that their pain "can disappear for a while, at least for a few hours."

That unspoken communication comes easily for her and the Dap-Kings, and they've had years to cultivate it. The band has practically grown up with her; she remembers when the drummer joined at 16. Now, he's 27.

For their follow-up album to 2007's "100 Days, 100 Nights," Jones says she's pushing herself to do more songwriting. The time seems to be right. Two years ago, she started a song with the lyric "We need a change, or one day we gonna wake up and everything's gonna be rearranged."

After Barack Obama's presidential victory, the concept of change has taken on new meaning for her, and it's inspiring her to finish the song.

"Once I heard this young man and his passion for America and for change, he sold me. He just sold me. Maybe now I can add to this song and finish it up," she said.

In the meantime, she and the Dap-Kings are testing songs for the next album on audiences at five gigs in the Midwest in December before heading out to Australia in early January.

"Tell people in Madison just to come on out and bring their dancing shoes," she said. "Get ready, I tell 'em. Come on and get funked up."

IF YOU GO

Who: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings with the Menahan Street Band

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3

Where: Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave.

Tickets: $20 in advance at www.barrymorelive.com or $22 the day of the show.