Tony Cummings charts the history of THE STAPLE SINGERS from their early days of raw rural gospel to their soul hits of the '70s.

The sleevenote to 'The Ultimate Staple Singers' compilation notes that everybody involved in recording the "I'll Take You There" classic had wildly differing memories about the session. Producer Al Bell is sure the reggae groove was his idea, Muscle Shoals mainstay Jimmy Johnson is sure it was his brainwave while drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood felt it came from their recent encounter with the sounds of Jamaica (at that time still all but unknown in the US). Whatever the truth, anoraks will tell you the bass lines and general groove were lifted directly from a 1969 instrumental, "The Liquidator" by Harry J & The All Stars, which reached number nine in the UK charts.

"Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There" were recorded in August 1971 as part of the sessions for the classic 1972 album 'Be Altitude'. Another song from the album, "This World", a cover of a song originally recorded by the Sweet Inspirations, went Top 10 R&B and Top 40 pop for the Staples. In October 1972 the Staples had extended sessions at Muscle Shoals for what was originally planned to be a double album but was finally released as two separate LPs, 'Be What You Are' and 'City In The Sky'. Five of the singles from these sessions, "Be What You Are", "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", "Touch A Hand, Make A Friend", "City In The Sky" and "My Main Man", charted over the next two and a quarter years, the first three written by what was now Stax's pre-eminent songwriting team; Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson and Carl Hampton.

Said Mavis, "Homer Banks always had better stories than anyone else who wrote for us. When I would sing his songs it was like I'm looking at a movie. You can see this story that you're telling in your head. That makes you sing it better. You sing it with more feeling because you're living it."

"If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" topped the R&B chart and making the Pop Top 10. But it was a song Mavis had serious reservations about. She remembered, "I almost didn't want to do that song because I said, 'It sounds just like "I'll Take You There". We're good enough that we don't have to do that.' Then Daddy said, 'Mavis, that's alright, if you find something good, stick with it. A lot of James Brown and Curtis Mayfield stuff sounds the same.' I tried to argue it down but then I looked at the lyric again. The lyric was so tough!"

By the time the 'City In The Sky' (1974) album was released Stax Records were in economic chaos due in part to its deteriorating relationship with its distributor CBS Records. Like all the Stax roster, the Staples were caught up in the business shambles and on 25th October 1974 Pops Staples wrote to Stax's president Al Bell requesting the group's release from their Stax contract. The Staples immediately signed with Warner/Curtom Records. At first things went swimmingly for the group, at least commercially. "Let's Do It Again", written and produced by soul star Curtis Mayfield and featured in the soundtrack of a movie starring Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby, topped both the R&B and pop charts. But the song's mildly salacious lyrics were a major disappointment for their church going followers while tracks on the 'Let's Do It Again' soundtrack album like "Funky Love" and "After Sex" showed the group had, momentarily at least, abandoned their gospel roots. After this aesthetic and moral misjudgement the group's next album (on Warner Bros) 'Pass It On' was largely ignored apart from a "Let's Do It Again" soundalike "Love Me, Love Me, Love Me" (a number 11 R&B hit in 1977). Intriguingly, the album contained a cover of the Olivia Newton John chart topper "I Honestly Love You" plus, ironically, the finest gospel song the Staples had recorded for years, "God Can", on which Pops contributed a mini-sermon.

In 1977 the group's album 'Family Tree', featuring such abysmal material as "Let's Go To The Disco", bombed and by the time Warner Bros released 'Unlock Your Mind in 1978 the Staples were slipping from the hitmakers circle. Their album 'Hold On To Your Dream' for 20th Century Fox sank without trace. A mini-comeback then occurred with the group signing to Private I Records where they recorded 'The Staple Singers' and clocked up some R&B chart hits in 1984 and 1985, the best of which was a dance-orientated version of Talking Heads' "Slippery People" (which featured Talking Heads' David Byrne's guitar work).

But time was running out for the family group. Mavis, who had begun recording as a solo artist with Epic Records and then Stax, was recording more solo projects (you'll be able to read about these in a Mavis Staples article to be published by Cross Rhythms in the next few days) while Pops Staples recorded some bluesy solo albums himself, 'Pops Staples' (I AM, 1987), 'Peace To The Neighbourhood' (Pointblank, 1992), 'Father Father' (Pointblank, 1994). In 1999 the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame. A year later, just short of his 85th birthday, Pops Staples died. With sister Cleotha suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Mavis and Yvonne decided that the extraordinary history of the Staple Singers had come to a close.

The group have left behind a hugely impressive body of work. Recently Charly Records released the 'Come Up In Glory' compilation which puts onto CD the majority of those historic Vee Jay recordings, Ace Records have reverently kept just about all their timeless Stax sides in catalogue as well as releasing the excellent 'The Ultimate Staple Singers' compilation while the number of times "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", "I'll Take You There" and "Respect Yourself" have been covered by the new wave of gospel artists show that though they were once spurned by the church community for "selling out", such harsh judgmentalism has largely waned.

Rob Bowman wrote that the Staple Singers' musical legacy "has embodied the hopes, aspirations, world view and musical aesthetics of several generations of black Americans in a way that has crossed racial, generational, class, gender and genre lines. Ultimately what comes to mind with I think of the Staple Signers is some of the richest, soul-affirming music America has ever produced." To that I can only add amen.