Pops Staples

Roebuck "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 grew up on a cotton plantation near Drew, Mississippi. From his earliest years he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton (who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation), Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, then sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935.

There, he sang with the Trumpet Jubilees while working in the stockyards, in construction work, and later in a steel mill. In 1948, Roebuck and his wife Oceola Staples formed The Staple Singers to sing as a gospel group in local churches, with their children. The Staple Singers first recorded in the early 1950s for United and then the larger Vee-Jay Records, with songs including 1955's "This May Be the Last Time" (later adapted by The Rolling Stones as "The Last Time") and "Uncloudy Day". He appeared as himself in the 1997 Barry Levinson film Wag the Dog, singing "Good Old Shoe" with Willie Nelson.

He died after suffering an ultimately fatal concussion in a fall at his home, 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.

Influence Musicians as diverse as Cannonball Adderley, Ry Cooder, Sandy Bull, Marty Stuart, and Bonnie Raitt

Staples's 1992 album Peace to the Neighborhood earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category.

In 1999, the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2010, Staples was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown of Winona, Mississippi.

In 2018, Staples was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.