
Yvonne Staples, whose voice and business acumen powered the success of the Staple Singers, her familyâs hit-making gospel group that topped the charts in the early 1970s with the song âIâll Take You There,â died April 10 at her home in Chicago. She was 80.
The Chicago funeral home Leak and Sons confirmed the death. The cause was colon cancer.
Ms. Staples performed with her sisters Mavis and Cleotha and their father, Roebuck âPopsâ Staples, on hits such as âRespect Yourself,â "If You're Ready (Come go with Me)" and "Iâll Take You There,â their first No. 1 hit.
Yvonne Staples wasnât as interested in singing as the rest of her family but stepped in when her brother, Pervis, left for military service, according to family friend Bill Carpenter, author of âUncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia.â Yvonne Staples also helped her father with business tasks, Carpenter said.
âShe was very no nonsense but at the same time had a heart of gold,â Carpenter said. âBut when it came to business she was very strict. If this is what the contract said, this is what you better do.â
Ms. Staples was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her family in 1999. The group also received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005. Still, Ms. Staples wasnât interested in the limelight, Carpenter said.
âShe didnât want to talk about her own singing,â Carpenter said. âShe said, âMavis is the star. Mavis is the voice.â She never cared about attention for herself.â
Yvonne Staples was Mavis Staplesâs road manager until recent years, Carpenter said.
The familyâs music career had its roots with Pops Staples, a manual laborer who strummed a $10 guitar while teaching his children gospel songs to keep them entertained in the evenings. They sang in church one Sunday morning in 1948, and three encores and a heavy church offering basket convinced Pops that music was in the familyâs future â and the Staple Singers group was born.
Two decades later, the group became an unlikely hit maker for the Stax label. The Staple Singers had a string of Top 40 hits with Stax in the late 1960s, earning them the nickname âGodâs greatest hit makers.â
The family also became active in the civil rights movement after hearing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a sermon while they were on tour in Montgomery, Ala., in 1962. They went on to perform at events at Kingâs request.
It was during that period that the family began recording protest songs, such as âFreedom Highway,â as well as gospel.
Yvonne Staples was born in Chicago on Oct. 23, 1937.
Pops died in 2000. Cleotha Staples died in 2013. A complete list of survivors could not immediately be confirmed.