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Omnivore Recordings has announced a new live record from The
Staple Singers, Africa 80, which features performances from their
first-ever tour in Africa. The album will be released on CD and
Digital on May 10.
The Staple Singers emerged into the public consciousness in the
early 1950s and, throughout their influential career, transformed
how listeners experienced Gospel music.
During the Civil Rights movement, Roebuck “Pops” Staples
discovered that their music could both enlighten and inspire a
new generation. Signing with Stax Records, they began to rule
not only the Gospel charts, but the Pop and R&B ones as well,
with hits like “I’ll Take You There” (which topped both the Pop &
R&B charts), “Respect Yourself,” “Touch A Hand, Make A Friend,”
and more. After Stax closed, they moved to Curtis Mayfield’s
Curtom Records, and in 1975, hit #1 on both the Pop and R&B
Charts again with “Let’s Do It Again.”
Three additional albums for Warner Bros. closed out the decade.
[Expanded editions of Let’s Do It Again (1975), Pass It On
(1976), Family Tree (1977), and Unlock Your Mind (1978) are
available from Omnivore Recordings].
An international tour sponsored by the U.S. Government found
the Staples performing across the continent of Africa in 1980. The
set included recent and classic hits like “Let’s Do It Again,”
“Respect Yourself,” standards “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,”
“Come Go With Me,” and choice covers like “Ease On Down The
Road” from The Wiz, and the Bacharach/David classic, “A House
Is Not A Home.”
