Candi Staton

All Music Guide:

Born March 13, 1940, in Hanceville, AL, Candi Stanton sang with the Jewell Gospel Trio as a teenager. They toured the traditional gospel circuit in the 1950s with the Soul Stirrers, C.L. Franklin, and Mahalia Jackson. They recorded several sides for Nashboro, Apollo, and Savoy Records between 1953 and 1963. In 1968 Staton launched solo career as a Southern soul stylist, garnering 16 R&B hits for Rick Hall's legendary Fame Studios and gaining the title of First Lady of Southern Soul for her Grammy-nominated R&B renditions of the country tunes "Stand by Your Man" and "In the Ghetto." In 1975 Staton saw Southern soul falling out of fashion and began collaborating with producer Dave Crawford, who propelled her into a disco diva with dance songs such as "Young Hearts Run Free" and "Victim." In 1982 Staton had been disgruntled with Warner Brothers' passing interest in her career and a career slump, so she returned to the gospel field. She and her husband, John Sussewell (drummer for Ashford & Simpson), founded Beracah Ministries in Atlanta with help from Jim and Tammy Bakker's PTL Ministries. She has since recorded eight popular gospel albums, two of which have won Grammy nominations. In 1992 she was back in the pop mainstream with a Top Ten British hit, "You Got the Love," a club-styled dance hit that sold two million copies. Since joining Intersound Records in 1995, Staton has begun to sing some of her old R&B hits again and recorded some new message-oriented pop songs while gaining a new title, the Sweetheart of Soul. In 2000, she released her 11th album, Here's a Blessing. Following the release of a well-received compilation of her Fame-era material (2004's Candi Staton), Staton returned to secular music in the form of 2006's His Hands.

Wikipedia:

Candi Staton (pron.: /ˈeɪən/; born Canzetta Maria Staton; March 13, 1940, Hanceville, Alabama) is an American soul and gospel singer, best known for her 1970 remake of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man" and her 1976 disco hit "Young Hearts Run Free". In Europe her biggest selling record is the anthemic You Got The Love from 1986 released in collaboration with The Source. Staton was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame.

Biography [edit]

Early years [edit]

At the age of eleven or twelve, Staton and her sister Maggie were sent to the Jewell Christian Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. Her vocal abilities quickly set her apart from the crowd; the school's pastor teamed the two sisters with a third girl to form the Jewell Gospel Trio. As teenagers, they toured the traditional gospel circuit in the 1950s with The Soul Stirrers, C. L. Franklin, and Mahalia Jackson. They recorded several sides for Nashbro, Apollo, and Savoy Records between 1953 and 1963.

Solo career [edit]

In 1968, Staton launched her solo career as a Southern soul stylist, garnering 16 R&B hits for Rick Hall's Fame Studios and gaining the title of "First Lady of Southern Soul" for her Grammy-nominated R&B renditions of the songs "Stand by Your Man" and "In the Ghetto". Staton appeared on the September 23, 1972 edition (Season 2, Episode 1) of Soul Train. In 1975, Staton began collaborating with producer David Crawford on disco songs such as "Young Hearts Run Free", which reached #1 on the US R&B charts, #2 in the UK Singles Chart and went Top 20 on the Pop Hot 100 during the summer of 1976. It was remixed and re-released in 1986 reaching the UK Top 50. Follow up song "Destiny" hit the Top 50 in the UK. Candi's version of "Nights on Broadway" hit the UK Top 10 in 1977; it had been a US Billboard hit for the Bee Gees over a year before. In 1978, she scored another Top 50 hit in the UK with "Honest I Do I Love You". In 1979, from her album "Chance" Staton released album single "When You Wake Up Tomorrow" (co-written by Patrick Adams and Wayne K. Garfield) and the title song "Chance", a TOP 20 R&B charted record. Other Dance club chart hits included "When You Wake Up Tomorrow" and "Victim". In 1982, Candi again hit the UK chart with a version of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds". In 1997, singer Kym Mazelle recorded "Young Hearts Run Free" for the film adaption of Romeo and Juliet.

In 1982, Staton returned to gospel music. She married her fourth husband, John Sussewell (drummer for Ashford & Simpson and also Dory Previn's sixth album). Together they founded Beracah Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia with help from Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's PTL Ministries. She has since recorded eight gospel albums, two of which received Grammy Award nominations.

In 1991, she returned to popular mainstream charts by lending her vocals to The Source's Top Ten British hit, "You Got the Love," a club-styled dance hit that sold two million copies and that is still considered a seminal classic of that era, leading to many remixes and cover versions being created. Staton signed with Intersound Records in 1995. In 2000, she released her eleventh album, Here's a Blessing. In 2004, the British record label Honest Jon's released a compilation CD of her country-soul work from the late 1960s and early 1970s, the self-titled Candi Staton, and Staton followed it up with a secular project in 2006 entitled His Hands, produced by Mark Nevers of Lambchop and with the title track written by Will Oldham. Two of Staton's children, Cassandra Hightower (background vocals) and Marcus Williams (drums), joined her on the CD. A second studio album for Honest Jon's, titled Who's Hurting Now?, appeared in 2009.

Staton's television show New Direction airs on TBN. Staton has also made appearances on the Praise the Lord telecast with Paul Crouch and his wife Jan Crouch.

Personal life [edit]

Staton has been married five times: