#cleotha staples

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Cleotha Staples who Died: February 21, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois

Cleotha “Cleedy” Staples contributed a distinctive soprano twang to the harmonies of the Staple Singers, a family gospel group that included other siblings and featured the lead vocals of her father, Roebuck (“Pops”) Staples, and her sister Mavis. Like her brother and sisters, “Cleedy” was schooled by her Mississippi-born father in the “down home” sound that they later adopted. They initially sang in churches but evolved into pop stars with such hits as “Uncloudy Day” and “Stand by Me” in the 1950s; social-awareness songs, notably “Why? (Am I Treated So Bad),” in the ’60s; and soul music (“Respect Yourself,” “I’ll Take You There”) in the 1970s. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and was honoured with a lifetime Grammy Award in 2005.

Cleotha Staples died in Chicago on February 21, 2013 at the age of 78 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for over a decade.

[classicladiesofcolor]

The Staples Singers in the late 50s (left to right) Pops, Cleotha, Mavis and Pervis. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

[soulmusicsongs]

It's Too Late - Eddie Floyd and Cleotha Staples (Boy Meets Girl, 1969)

[rainingmusic]

The Staple Singers - Let's Do It Again

[musicandmotors]

The Staple Singers at Wattstax, August 20, 1972

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

Mavis Staples: ‘All that progress we made – and now we have a liar in the White House'

In a hotel room in Detroit, a 78-year-old woman is rasping down the phone. She can’t quite hear every word I say, as she spent last night in a loud theatre with her old boyfriend, Bob: “We talk about old times.” Bob is Bob Dylan; Mavis Staples supported him on his most recent American tour.

Dylan asked Staples to marry him in 1964, shortly after they had kissed for the first time at the Newport folk festival; she said no, feeling that back then she couldn’t marry a white man. “That’s a long time ago,” she says, in a clipped, no-nonsense fashion, shutting down any discussion of rekindled romance. “These days, we just play and go back to our own lives. We’re old now. As soon as the gig’s over, I’m going to bed to sleep.”

Staples started making music with her family band, the Staple Singers, in 1948 before pop music really existed, but pop musicians are still clamouring to work with her in 2017. This year, she has featured on records by Arcade Fire and Gorillaz, and released her own album, If All I Was Was Black, its title track a simple, profoundly moving song about racism. (“If all I was was black / Don’t you wanna know me more than that?”)

“This record is all about hope,” Staples explains. Her voice is guttural and deep – that famous huskiness is something she has had since her childhood. “How we can come together and fix things, and build bridges. If everyone heard these songs, whatever the colour of their skin, they’d fall in love with each other.” [Read More]

[classicladiesofcolor]

The Staples Singers — “Brand New Soul”, 1962

[aeschtunes]

Remembering Cleotha Staples from The Staple Singers

(April 11, 1934-February 21, 2013)