The Staple Singers – “Soul Folk in Action!”
December 23, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured Artists
The Staple Singers were an American soul, R&B and gospel music group and were active in years 1948 to 1994. The group was formed by Reobuck Staples with his children Mavis, Yvonne, Pervis and Cleotha.
The top hits from the group still remain their 1970’s “Let’s Do It Again”, “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself”. The group has given beautiful soul and R&B music to the industry.
The group started when the family used to perform in churches in Chicago. This was in the year 1948 when they started singing. In 1952, with a professional contract the group marked their presence as a gospel-folk group with many songs. The group worked with Riverside Records, Vee-Jay Records, United Records in 1965 after which the group signed with Epic records. The name of the group came from their surname “Staples”. Epic Records proved to be lucky for The Staple singers and they came in the pop market with their hits “For What It’s Worth” and “Why(Am I Treated So Bad)” in 1967. Later the group signed Stax records in 1968 and gave two albums in 1968, “Soul Folk in Action” and “We’ll Get Over”.
The Staple Singers gave the first hit while at Stax Records which was “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-N-Boom Boom)”. Later in 1971 “Respect Yourself” was recorded by the group which rocked the R&B charts at No 2 and No 12 at the pop charts. The group gave their biggest hit “I’ll Take You There” in 1972 and this rocked both R&B and pop charts. Later the group gave another hit “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” in 1973.
The group signed Curtom Records in 1975 and released “Let’s Do It Again” which again became the number 1 hit in US. The group saw it downturn after this hit and even when they gave songs like “The Weight” in the film The Last Walts they could not perform well on the chart. The group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 after staples died in December 2000.
The group has given many albums which include “Uncloudy Day” in 1959, “Swing Low Sweet” in 1961, “Hammer and Nails” in 1962, “Swing Low” in 1962, “The 25th Day of December” in 1962, “Gamblin Man” in 1963, “This Little Light” in 196, “Amen” in 1965, “Freedom Highway” in 1965, “For What It’s Worth” in 1967, “Soul Folk in Action” in 1968, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” in 1969, “Landlord” in 1970, “We’ll Get Over” in 1970, “The Staple Swingers” in 1971, “Be Altitude” Respect Yourself” in 1972, “Be What You Are” in 1973, “City in the Sky” in 1974, “Let’s Do It Again” in 1975, “Pass It On” in 1976, “Family Tree” in 1977, “Unlock Your Mind” in 1978, “Hold on to Your Dream” in 1981, “This Time Around” in 1981 and “Turning Point” in 1984.
The compilation albums from the group include “The Best of the Staple Singers” in 1990 and “The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair” in 2004.
TJ Grooves
Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV
‘I’ll Take you There” and “Respect Yourself” are why I remember the Staple Singers. I was saddened to hear that Pops Staple died in 2000 aged 86, but there’s a brilliant recording of the band singing Respect Yourself on YouTube and both Pops and Mavis Staple’s voices have never sounded better.
The Best of the Staple Singers or The Ultimate Staple Singers are the two compilations most people buy, but Be Altitude: Respect Yourself is my fave album, and to be honest all the best tracks are on it. Originally released in 1972, it has a fresh funky sound that beats most current soul artists hands down.
Long before the Winans were called it, the Staple Singers were known as the first Family of Gospel because of their origins in churches in Chicago. It’s amazing how many of our best loved voices came from this type of background - the combination of the church, praising God and being allowed the freedom to sing in public clearly honed their talents.
I also heard of them being called ‘God’s Greatest Hitmakers’ but that sounds like a journalists coinage after the event if you ask me!
When the Staple family moved to New York they became more influenced by the trendy folk sound that Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie were promoting, and hence their repertoire changed to include the typical protest songs of the era, although they continued to include folk-gospel songs. In the nineties Mavis Staples also released an album of soul-funk material.