Pervis Staples

Gospel soul dynast BORN 1935

As the only other man in The Staples Singers, Pervis Staples was often in the shadow of the soul-gospel group’s father/ founder Roebuck ‘Pops’ Staples. Yet, until he left after 1968‘s Soul Folk In Action, he was integral to the powerful, righteous vocal mix. Born on November 18, 1935 in Drew, Mississippi, he moved with the family to Chicago where Pops tutored them in gospel harmony, prioritising the range of youngest child Mavis, whose husky depth many later mistook for Pervis, a fact the Staples played on. Popular on the gospel circuit, they signed to Vee-Jay in the ’50s, Uncloudy Day earning a first hit. After other gospel standards, like Will The Circle Be Unbroken?, Pervis persuaded his father to broaden the group’s repertoire with folk rock covers as they moved to Epic, Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall among them. Even greater success followed when they signed to Stax, but Pervis soon left the goup. He managed another gospel-based group of sisters, the Hutchinson Sunbeams, as they became The Emotions, ran a club, married and had six children, and was there when the Staples were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on May 6.