The Contralto and a Tremelo Guitar Peter R. Furlong, PhD Share
Kot, Greg. I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, The Staple Singers, and the March Up Freedom’s Highway. Scribner: New York. 2014.
The young, wholesome face of Mavis Staples graces the cover of this book, but the person who attracted the most attention from me was Pops Staples, the family patriarch. The success of the Staple Singers as stirring gospel performers is attributed to Pops’ direction and management; their spiritual sincerity began with him and stayed with them despite the money-making demands of the pop recording industry, the changing tastes of the black audience, and the gospel police.
Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, has died, a spokesman announced Wednesday. He was 85. Pervis Staples died May 6 at his home in Dolton, Illinois, according to Adam Ayers, a spokesman for Staples’ sister, Mavis Staples. The cause of death wasn’t given.…
Pervis Staples, Who Harmonized With the Staple Singers, Dies at 85
He sang alongside his father and sisters as his family’s gospel group achieved renown in the late 1950s and ’60s.
The Staple Singers in the 1960s, with Pervis Staples at right and, from left, his father, Roebuck, and his sisters Cleotha and Mavis.Credit.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
May 14, 2021, 1:31 p.m. ET
Pervis Staples, who sang harmony and also provided quieter forms of support during the rise to gospel stardom of his family’s group, the Staple Singers, died on May 6 at his home in Dolton, Ill. He was 85.
CHICAGO (AP) — Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, has died, a spokesman announced Wednesday. He was 85.