Pops Staples born 28 December 1914

 "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000) was an American gospel and R&B musician. A "pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 1970s", he was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. He was the patriarch and member of singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha. 

Roebuck Staples was born near Winona, Mississippi, the youngest of 14 children. He grew up on a cotton plantation near Drew, Mississippi. From his earliest years he was impressed by local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton, who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation. "That sold me on guitar," he recalled. "My greatest ambition was then to play and record." He began to play with Patton, Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, then sang with a gospel group before marrying. He and his wife Oceola brought up their children in Chicago, where they moved in 1935. 

He worked for the Armour tinned-meat company as a packer and killer and in his spare time sang with a gospel quartet, the Trumpet Jubilees. He then worked in the stockyards, in construction work, and later in a steel mill. By his own account he "didn't touch a guitar for at least 12 years". In 1948, Roebuck and his wife Oceola Staples formed The Staple Singers to sing as a gospel group in local churches, with their children, Cleotha, Purvis, Yvonne and Mavis. 

                                   

In the early 50s they began to be heard on records, first for Leonard Allen's United label, then for the larger Vee-Jay, where they made such unforgettable records as Don't Drive Me Away, This May Be The Last Time - later adapted by the Rolling Stones - and Uncloudy Day. The combination of Staples' tremolo-laden guitar and the wild beauty of Mavis's voice- what the jazz writer Stanley Crouch called "their joy and thunder" - was like nothing previously heard in gospel music, and Uncloudy Day sold, as Staples remarked, "like rock 'n' roll". 

In the early 60s the Staples Singers, now with Riverside records, looked for an audience beyond the ghetto, recording coffeehouse favourites such as Cotton Fields, Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind and Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land. Such choices were mildly controversial at the time, but Staples was quick to defend them. "I think they're good material. I think it's time for the whole nation to start listening to something that means something, and think that this land belongs to everybody. If they would think like that we'd have a better United States." 

In the 1960s, the Staple Singers moved to Riverside Records, Epic Records, and later Stax Records and began recording protest, inspirational and contemporary music, reflecting the civil rights and anti-war movements of the time. Such choices were mildly controversial at the time, but Staples was quick to defend them. "I think they're good material. I think it's time for the whole nation to start listening to something that means something, and think that this land belongs to everybody. If they would think like that we'd have a better United States. 

They gained a large new audience with "Respect Yourself" (which featured Pops, nearly 57 at the time, on lead on the long version for more than two minutes), the 1972 US # 1 hit "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)", and other hits. "Let's Do It Again" topped the Hot 100 on December 27, 1975, the day before his 61st birthday. Pops Staples (as Pop Staples) also recorded a blues album, Jammed Together, with fellow guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper. 

In 1976, Staples also appeared in the movie documenting The Band's final concert, The Last Waltz (released in 1978). Pops Staples shared vocals with his daughters and with Levon Helm and Rick Danko on "The Weight." The group appeared in the concert on stage, but their later performance shot on a soundstage was used in the final film. It is considered by some fans as the definitive version of the song. After Mavis left for a solo career in the 1980s, Pops Staples began a solo career, appearing at international "blues" festivals (though steadfastly refusing to sing the blues).

In 1995, he won the Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for Father, Father.  In 1998, Pops Staples received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States. In 1999, the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died after suffering an ultimately fatal concussion in a fall at his home on December 19, 2000 just nine days shy of his 86th birthday. After his death, his daughters Yvonne and Mavis gave one of his guitars to country and gospel musician Marty Stuart. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)