Napoleon Demps

Norma Jean Napoleon Demps

It gives us great pleasure to introduce the baddest new voice in the land, Napoleon Demps. A Flint Michigan

native, he grew up listening to Soul luminaries OV Wright, Willie Hutch and Sam Cooke, whose influence led

Demps down a path to becoming an accomplished Soul singer himself - scoring his f irst hit at the age of 24 in

the still thriving Southern Chitlin Circuit of the early aughts. Demps, having been a long time Daptone fan,

connected with the Dap-Kings at a soundcheck at a Detroit nightclub for an impromptu rendition of "A Change

is Gonna Come." Bosco Mann was floored by his voice and swore they would meet again. Last year, wit h that

sweet soulful voice still ringing in his ears, Mann would reconnect with Demps and bring him out to Penrose

Recorders in Riverside, California to f inally cut his f irst Daptone side. "Norma Jean" is a funky soul groover that

lands somewhere between the nuanced big city sounds Chicago and Detroit were pumping out in the late '60s:

think the grit of Twinight's houseband Pieces of Peace, kissed by the sophisticated Motor City production of Dave

Hamilton or The Brothers of Soul and you're getting warm. Napoleon's smoot h, commanding voice injects a je

ne sais quoi t hat's wholly fresh, bypassing the af fected trappings that plague many of today's singers. In short...

Napoleon Demps is a Soul singer's Soul singer. Take a listen and hear for yourself!