45s.com -- Recording Artist Information: The Staple Singers

Date Formed	1967
Location
Music	R&B group
Charted Pop/Rock Hits	18
Period Active	June 3, 1967 to 1976
Biggest Hits	I'll Take You There; Let's Do It Again; If You're Ready (Come Go With Me.
Music List and Data	Search Music List
Notable Information	The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.
Original Members	Roebuck "Pop" Staples, Pervis Staples, Cleotha Staples, Yvonne Staples, Mavis Staples.
Other Names	None
Other Web Sites

The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.  The following information was obtained from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

The Staple Singers have been called "God's greatest hitmakers." Steeped in the music of the church, this singing family from Mississippi crossed into the pop mainstream without compromising their gospel roots. Behind the leadership of patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples, the Staple Singers have left an imprint of soulful voices, social activism and religious conviction across the decades since the release of "Uncloudy Day" in 1956. The clan's musical signatures have been Pop Staples' gospel-based songwriting and bluesy guitar, Mavis Staples' rich, raspy vocals and the supple, ringing harmonies of Cleotha and Yvonne Staples. All three women are the daughters of Pops and Oceola Staples. Until 1969, their son Pervis also belonged to the group, which has been configured as a quartet for half a century, with Pops and Mavis joined by Cleotha, Yvonne and/or Pervis.

By force of conviction and the rollicking, rhythm & blues underpinnings of their music, the gospel-based Staples cracked the Top Forty eight times during the first half of the Seventies. Two of their singles reached Number One: the funky, inspirational "I'll Take You There," which was the highlight of their tenure on Stax Records, and "Let's Do It Again," a film-soundtrack song recorded for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. Beyond these Top Forty watermarks, the Staple Singers have enjoyed a lengthy history that dates back to the late Forties. It all began with Pops Staples, who was born on December 28, 1915, in Winona, Mississippi, where he grew up hearing both church and blues music. In 1931, he joined the Gospel Trumpets, a local quartet. After relocating his family to Chicago in 1936, Pops became a member of the Trumpet Jubilees. While Oceola Staples worked evenings, Pops kept the brood occupied by teaching them songs, and this diversion became their lifelong occupation.

The family sang at churches around the upper Midwest, became regulars on a Sunday radio show and cut their first recording - a 78 rpm single on Pops' own Royal label - in 1953. Another record for a local label ("Won't You Sit Down," on United) led to a contract with Chicago-based Vee Jay Records. The Staple Singers stayed at Vee Jay from 1956-1962, a tenure that included their breakthrough single, "Uncloudy Day." Moving to the New York-based Riverside label, the Staple Singers moved from outright gospel to a more folk-oriented sound, recording such contemporary, message-oriented songs as Woody Guthrie's "This Land" and Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," as well as a highly regarded Christmas album, The Twenty-fifth Day of December. Their late-Sixties tenure on Epic Records would further move them in this direction, with the Staples recording protest songs (such as Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth") and inspirational material ("Marching Up Jesus' Highway") in a folk-gospel style, saluting and furthering the spirit of Martin Luther King before and after his death.

The Staple Singers found commercial success at the Memphis-based Stax label, where their message-oriented material was emplaced in a funkier setting. Their run of Top Forty hits was ignited in 1971 with "Heavy Makes You Happy," while the album Beattitude: Respect Yourself, reached #19. In April 1972, another milestone was reached when "I'll Take You There" simultaneously topped the pop and R&B charts. A move to Warner Bros. at mid-decade resulted in their second #1 hit, "Let's Do It Again," a disco-era favorite. The Staple Singers, who shortened their name to the Staples, remained at Warner Bros. until the end of the Seventies. (As a side note, one of the Staples' sidemen, guitarist George Benson, launched a successful solo career at Warner Bros.) While at Stax, Mavis and Pops Staples recorded solo albums, and they continued to do so for Warner Bros. and other labels. In the late Eighties, Prince signed Mavis Staples to his Paisley Park label and produced, played on and wrote much of the material on two memorable solo discs, Time Waits for No One and The Voice. In 1994, Pops Staples' Father Father won a Grammy for the Best Contemporary Blues Album.