The Staple Singers was an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21, 2013), Pervis (November 18, 1935 – May 6, 2021), and Mavis (b. July 10, 1939). Yvonne (October 23, 1937 – April 10, 2018) replaced her brother when he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and again in 1970. They are best known for their 1970s hits "Respect Yourself", "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)", and "Let's Do It Again". While the family name is Staples, the group used "Staple" commercially.
History
First child to Roebuck "Pops" Staples and his wife Oceola Staples, Cleotha was born in Drew, Mississippi, in 1934. Two years later, Roebuck moved his family from Mississippi to Chicago. The family began appearing in Chicago-area churches in 1948. Their first public singing appearance was at the Mount Zion Church, Chicago, where Roebuck's brother, the Rev. Chester Staples, was pastor.
They signed their first professional contract in 1952. During their early career, they recorded in an acoustic gospel-folk style with various labels: United Records, Vee-Jay Records (their "Uncloudy Day" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" were best sellers), Checker Records, Riverside Records, and then Epic Records in 1965. "Uncloudy Day" was an early influence on Bob Dylan, who said of it in 2015, "It was the most mysterious thing I'd ever heard ... I'd think about them even at my school desk ... Mavis looked to be about the same age as me in her picture (on the cover of "Uncloudy Day") ... Her singing just knocked me out ... And Mavis was a great singer—deep and mysterious. And even at the young age, I felt that life itself was a mystery."
The move to Epic yielded a run of albums, including the live in-church Freedom Highway album produced by Billy Sherrill; the title track of which was a civil rights movement protest song penned by Pops Staples. It was on Epic that the Staple Singers developed a style more accessible to mainstream audiences, with "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)" and "For What It's Worth" (Stephen Stills) in 1967. In 1968, the Staple Singers signed to Stax Records and released two albums with Steve Cropper—Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over, Pervis returning for them. After Cropper left Stax, Al Bell produced their recordings, conducting the rhythm sessions at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and cutting the overdubs himself with engineer/musician Terry Manning at Memphis's Ardent Studios, moving in a more funk and soul direction. Their song "Brand New Day", written by Al Kooper for the film, was used as the theme song (and for the opening title credits) of The Landlord (1970).
The Staple Singers' first Stax hit was "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom)" in early 1971. Their late 1971 recording of "Respect Yourself", written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, peaked at number two on the Billboard R&B chart and number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Both hits sold over one million copies and were each awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song's theme of self-empowerment had universal appeal, released in the period immediately following the intense American civil rights movement of the 1960s. In 1972, "I'll Take You There" topped both Billboard charts. Cleotha Staples died in Chicago on February 21, 2013, at the age of 78, after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for over a decade. Mavis Staples has continued to collaborate on both the projects of other artists and her own solo work. In 2022, she released Carry Me Home, a collaboration with Levon Helm, recorded at Helm's Midnight Ramble in 2011. She appeared at Glastonbury in 2015 and 2019, and her 2016 album Livin' on a High Note includes a simple acoustic version of a Martin Luther King sermon in the track "MLK Song". Yvonne Staples died on April 10, 2018, at the age of 80.
Documentary
The 2015 documentary film Mavis! recounts the history of The Staple Singers and follows Mavis Staples's solo career after Pops Staples's death. Directed by Jessica Edwards, the film premiered at the 2015 South by Southwest Film Festival and was broadcast by HBO in February 2016.
Awards
The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018. They were also honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Drew, Mississippi. In 2005, the group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Discography
Early albums
- A Gospel Program (with The Caravans) (Gospel/Savoy MG-3001, 1958)
- Uncloudy Day (Vee Jay VJLP-5000, 1959)
- Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Vee Jay VJLP-5008, 1960)
- Swing Low (Vee Jay VJLP-5014, 1961)
- Hammer and Nails (Riverside RLP-3501, 1962)
- The Twenty-Fifth Day of December (Riverside RLP-3513, 1962)
- This Land (Riverside RM-3524, 1963)
- Swing Low Sweet Chariot (Vee Jay VJLP-5030, 1963)
- Amen! (Epic BN-26132, 1965)
- Freedom Highway (Epic BN-26163, 1965)
- This Little Light (Riverside RM-3527, 1965)
- Why (Epic BN-26196, 1966)
- Pray On (Epic BN-26237, 1967)
- For What It's Worth (Epic BN-26332, 1967)
- What the World Needs Now is Love (Epic BN-26373, 1968)
- Soul Folk in Action (Stax STS-2004, 1968)
- We'll Get Over (Stax STS-2016, 1969)
Source:
Charted albums
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Title
! colspan="3"| Peak chart positions
! rowspan="2"| Record label
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="35"| US<br>
! width="35"| US<br>R&B<br>
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1971
| align="left"| The Staple Swingers
| 117
| 9
| —
| rowspan="4"| Stax
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1972
| align="left"| Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
| 19
| 3
| 72
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1973
| align="left"| Be What You Are
| 102
| 13
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1974
| align="left"| City in the Sky
| 125
| 13
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1975
| align="left"| Let's Do It Again
| 20
| 1
| 87
| rowspan="1"| Curtom
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1976
| align="left"| Pass It On
| 155
| 20
| —
| rowspan="3"| Warner Bros.
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1977
| align="left"| Family Tree
| —
| 58
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1978
| align="left"| Unlock Your Mind
| —
| 34
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"| 1984
| align="left"| Turning Point
| —
| 43
| —
| rowspan="1"| Private I
|-
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
|}
Charted singles
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Title
! colspan="5"| Peak chart positions
! rowspan="2"| Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="35"| US<br>
! width="35"| CAN<br>
|-
| rowspan="2"|1967
| align="left"| "Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)"
| 95
| —
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="1"| Why
|-
| align="left"| "For What It's Worth"
| 66
| —
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="1"| For What It's Worth
|-
| rowspan="1"|1970
| align="left"| "Love Is Plentiful"
| —
| 31
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="3"| The Staple Swingers
|-
| rowspan="3"|1971
| align="left"| "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)"
| 27
| 6
| —
| 60
| —
|-
| align="left"| "You've Got to Earn It"
| 97
| 11
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Respect Yourself"
| 12
| 2
| —
| 17
| —
| rowspan="3"| Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
|-
| rowspan="2"|1972
| align="left"| "I'll Take You There"
| 1
| 1
| —
| 21
| 30
|-
| align="left"| "This World"
| 38
| 6
| —
| 85
| —
|-
| rowspan="3"|1973
| align="left"| "Oh La De Da"
| 33
| 4
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="1"| Wattstax: The Living Word
|-
| align="left"| "Be What You Are"
| 66
| 18
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="3"| Be What You Are
|-
| align="left"| "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)"
| 9
| 1
| —
| 79
| 34
|-
| rowspan="3"|1974
| align="left"| "Touch a Hand, Make a Friend"
| 23
| 3
| —
| 33
| —
|-
| align="left"| "City in the Sky"
| 79
| 4
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="2"| City in the Sky
|-
| align="left"| "My Main Man"
| 76
| 18
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="1"|1975
| align="left"| "Let's Do It Again"
| 1
| 1
| 97
| 7
| —
| rowspan="2"| Let's Do It Again
|-
| rowspan="2"|1976
| align="left"| "New Orleans"
| 70
| 4
| —
| 84
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me"
| —
| 11
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="2"| Pass It On
|-
| rowspan="2"|1977
| align="left"| "Sweeter Than the Sweet"
| —
| 52
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "See a Little Further (Than My Bed)"
| —
| 77
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="2"| Family Tree
|-
| rowspan="2"|1978
| align="left"| "I Honestly Love You"
| —
| 68
| —
| —
| —
|-
| align="left"| "Unlock Your Mind"
| —
| 16
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="2"| Unlock Your Mind
|-
| rowspan="1"|1979
| align="left"| "Chica Boom"
| —
| 82
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="3"|1984
| align="left"| "H-A-T-E (Don't Live Here Anymore)"
| —
| 46
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="3"| Turning Point
|-
| align="left"| "Slippery People"
| 109
| 22
| —
| —
| 78
|-
| align="left"| "This Is Our Night"
| —
| 50
| —
| —
| —
|-
| rowspan="2"|1985
| align="left"| "Are You Ready?"
| —
| 39
| —
| —
| —
| rowspan="2"| The Staple Singers
|-
| align="left"| "Nobody Can Make It on Their Own"
| —
| 89
| —
| —
| —
|-
| colspan="8" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
|}
Further reading
References
External links
- The Staple Singers at VH1