DOLTON â Pervis Staples, a founding member of legendary Chicago group The Staple Singers, died on May 6 at his home in Dolton, according to a family spokesman. He was 85. The Staple Singers were made up of Roebuck "Pops" Staples, his son Pervis and his daughters Mavis, Cleotha and Yvonne. The group formed in Chicago in the late 1940s and got its start playing gospel music in churches with Pops on guitar. They signed their first recording contact in the early 1950s and had several albums out by the end of the decade. Pops Staples reportedly resisted expanding the group's repertoire by recording R&B songs.