The Staple Singers

Pops Staples died due to a concussion from a fall in 2000. Despite numerous line-up changes and a decline in mainstream success, the band are still recording and performing in the early 2000s. In 1994, they recorded a duet with Mary Stuart ("The Weight", The Band), somewhat re-establishing an audience. Their greatest success came in the late 1970s/early 1980s, peaking with their cover version of The O'Jays "Now That We've Found Love", a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic in 1979. After this, however, they were not able to regain their momentum, releasing occasional minor hits. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco and is considered by some reggae purists to be overly "commercial". The Stape Singers then signed to Curtom, Curtis Mayfield's label, and released "Let's Do It Again", produced by Mayfield; the song was a huge hit. Third World is a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1973.

The song's theme of self-empowerment had universal appeal, released in the period immediately following the intense American civil rights movement of the 1960s. Their 1972 recording on Stax of "Respect Yourself," written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, was number 2 on the R&B charts and a Top 40 pop hit as well. The first Stax hit was "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)". By 1970, Al Bell had become producer, and the family began recording at the fame Muscle Shoals studio, moving in a more funk and soul direction.

In 1968, the Staple Singers signed to Stax and released two albums with Steve Cropper and Booker T & the MG's - Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over. It was on Epic that the Staple Singers began moving into mainstream pop markets, with "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)" and "For What It's Worth" (Stephen Stills) in 1967. Pops Staples, the patriarch of the family, formed the group in 1951, signing with United Records, then Vee-Jay, Riverside and, finally, Epic Records. The Staple Singers were a United States gospel music group.