What Happened? The Staple Singers

The Staple Singers

The family began appearing in Chicago-area churches in 1948, and signed their first professional contract in 1952. Mavis Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960s. 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. While the family surname is "Staples", the group used the singular form for its name, resulting in the group's name being "The Staple Singers".

It was on Epic that the Staple Singers began moving into mainstream pop markets, 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 and Booker T & the MG's — Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over.

Mavis first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release,Only for the Lonely.

By 1970, Al Bell had become producer, and with Engineer Terry Manning, the family began recording at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and Memphis' Ardent Studios, moving in a more funk and soul direction.

The first Stax hit was "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)". By the time of thier 1971 recording of "Respect Yourself", written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice thier sibling Pervis left the group. The song peaked at #2 on the R&B charts and was a #12 pop hit as well. 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, the group had a huge #1 hit in the United States with "I'll Take You There". It topped both pop and R&B charts. "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" would become another big hit, reaching #9 pop and #1 on the R&B chart in 1973.

Then, after Stax's bankruptcy in 1975, they signed to Curtis Mayfield's label, Curtom Records, and released "Let's Do It Again", produced by Mayfield; the song became their second #1 pop hit in the US and the album also. In 1976, they collaborated with The Band for their film The Last Waltz, performing on the song "The Weight" (which The Staple Singers had previously covered on their first Stax album). However, they were not able to regain their momentum, releasing only occasional minor hits.

In 1977, Mavis released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label.

Their 1984 album Turning Point featured their final Top 40 hit, a cover of Talking Heads' "Slippery People" (which also reached the Top 5 on the Dance chart).

A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One.

Mavis Staples starred in Prince's movie Graffiti Bridge. She played the owner of a night club and guardian to Tevin Campbell. She performed her Prince penned song "Melody Cool" . She then followed it with 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993.

In 1994, they again performed the song "The Weight" with Country music artist Marty Stuart for MCA Nashville's Rhythm, Country and Blues compilation, somewhat re-establishing an audience.

The song "Respect Yourself" was used by Spike Lee in the soundtrack to his movie Crooklyn, made in 1994.

Her  1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.

In 1999, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Pops Staples died at the age of 86 of complications from a concussion suffered in December 2000.

 Staples made a major national return with the release of the album Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.

In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez.

In 2005, The Staple Singers was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  

A new album for Anti- Records entitled We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.

Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.

In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews,[who?] with 225 of the academy's students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.

Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.

On October 30, 2010, Staples performed at the Jon Stewart Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear alongside singer Jeff Tweedy.

Staples also performed at the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors, singing in a tribute to Paul McCartney, an honoree

On February 13, 2011, Mavis Staples won her first Grammy award in the category for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone. In her acceptance speech, a shocked and crying Staples said "This has been a long time coming."

On May 7, 2011, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

On May 6, 2012, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate, and performed "I'll Take You There" with current and graduating students at Columbia College's 2012 Commencement Exercise in Chicago, Illinois at the Historic Chicago Theatre.

Mavis headlined on June 10th, 2012 at Chicago's Annual Blues Festival in Grant Park.