Cleotha Staples 1934 – 2013
The Staple Singers (l-r) Cleotha, Pops, Pervis and Mavis
NOTE: a reader says that I have the family members
misidentified in the picture above. Can anyone confirm this?
Listen/Download Staple Singers – For What It’s Worth
Greetings all
Got a little sad news last week when word came down that Cleotha Staples, the eldest of the singing siblings had passed away at the age of 78 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Staples, the soprano of the group – alongside sister Mavis, brother Pervis (who left the group in 1968) and father Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples – may have taken the lead only rarely, but her voice was an important part of the group’s wall of sound (perhaps a more apt use of that colloquialism). There are few things in music as powerful as the sum of several strong voices and the Staples were mighty indeed.
Though there were countless soul singers that got their start and training singing gospel in church (many often recording gospel before working in the secular realm), the Staples were already a famous gospel group prior to their huge crossover success with the Stax label.
Though they had recorded folk/protest material before, their cover of the Buffalo Springfield’s hit ‘For What It’s Worth’ (originally posted here in 2009) probably seemed like bold and unusual choice.
The original version had been a hit in January of 1967 (recorded just a month earlier), as a reaction to the Sunset Strip riots.
The Staple Singers version came out in September of that year, and despite the LA country rock roots of the song, they did a little k-turn and drove it right through church.
Opening with Pops Staples’s unmistakable, Delta-soaked guitar, the group harmonies – soaring over a simple drum and handclap rhythm track – have a richness and power that make the record (in no way a popular success) a landmark of sorts.
As I wrote in 2009, ‘For What It’s Worth’ has a broad enough reach to transfer easily from the youth culture to the civil rights movement seamlessly.
The Staple Singers recorded for Epic from 1964 to 1968, when they made the move to Stax, having their first big hit with ‘Heavy Makes You Happy’ in 1970. They had their last hit in 1984 with a cover of the Talking Heads’ ‘Slippery People’.
Following the death of Pops Staples in 2000 (the year after their induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame) the group disbanded. Not long after that Cleotha developed Alzheimer’s, leaving sister Mavis the only remaining performing member of the family group.
I hope you dig the track, and I’ll see you on Friday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!
The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.
They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).
Click here to go to the ordering page.
Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
Themocracy
You forgot about Yvonne, I saw her with Mavis and the No. Mississippi All Stars just a couple of years ago.
She didn’t join the group until after Pervis left in 1968.
I will definitely post something from the Stax-era Staples in the future.
ps I think that’s Yvonne in the picture on the right, not Mavis.