The Staple Singers

A family in church

The Staple Singers began in 1948 as a family act that sang in Chicago-area churches, starting at Mount Zion, where Roebuck Staples's brother Chester was pastor. Roebuck, known as Pops, was born in Mississippi in 1914 and moved the family north to Chicago in the mid-1930s, working in steel mills and meatpacking plants. His children Cleotha, Pervis and Mavis sang with him, and Yvonne stepped in when Pervis was drafted and again from 1970. The group used "Staple" as its commercial name; the family name is Staples.

Pops played a tremolo-heavy electric guitar behind the voices, and Mavis's contralto lead became the signature. They signed to Vee-Jay in the mid-1950s, and "Uncloudy Day" in 1956 was a major gospel hit; "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" also sold well. In 1965 they moved to Epic, where Billy Sherrill produced Freedom Highway, with a title song Pops wrote as a civil rights anthem. The group sang at rallies for Martin Luther King Jr., and "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)" was reportedly one of King's favorites.

Stax

In 1968 Al Bell signed the family to Stax in Memphis. The records they made there put their message in a soul groove: "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom)" in early 1971, "Respect Yourself" later that year, "I'll Take You There" in 1972, which went to number one on both the pop and R&B charts, and "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)" in 1973. Rhythm tracks were often cut at Muscle Shoals Sound in Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and finished at Ardent in Memphis. They headlined the Stax set at Wattstax in Los Angeles on August 20, 1972.

After Stax closed in December 1975 they signed with Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label and had a second pop number one with "Let's Do It Again." In 1976 they appeared with The Band in The Last Waltz, singing "The Weight." Later records included Turning Point (1984), with a cover of the Talking Heads' "Slippery People."

Honors

The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Roebuck died on December 19, 2000. Mavis went on to a long solo career, performing at Glastonbury in 2015 and 2019. Greg Kot's book I'll Take You There tells the family story.