By Teino Evans, Staff ReporterINTERNATIONAL GOSPEL singer Candi Staton will soon grace Jamaica with her presence, as she is slated to perform at the National Kite Festival on April 11 (this Easter Sunday) at the Kaiser Sports Club in St. Ann.
Staton, who has performed in Jamaica before, has had a vast career, creating waves with hit songs both in the secular world and now gospel.
Staton, who grew up in the church as a child, returned to her gospel roots after a big run as a secular star in the 1970s. Since then, she has developed a reputation as a charismatic praise and worship leader, a sensitive psalmist and the person who first infused gospel with funk through her 'gosco' songs such as Dance and Sing A Song, which merged disco rhythms with gospel lyrics.
However, Candi is equally known for her sweet ballads such as Sin Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Mama as she is for her more high-energy material.
Persons who have heard Candi Staton sing have described her as sweet sounding and have, therefore, called her the 'Sweetheart of Soul'.
GOOD PRODUCTIONS
After a three-year break, Candi returned to the centrestage with the highly acclaimed Here's A Blessing For You CD on her own Beracah Records label. The album also features the live version of her 1995 smash Mama, which is one of Candi's own CDs for the very first time.
In addition, the album boasts the inspirational song Love Yourself, which is receiving airplay on urban adult contemporary radio this spring. This project is just the latest chapter in Candi's fascinating life story.
Born Canzetta Maria Staton in Hanceville, Alabama, Candi was from a farming family. When they weren't harvesting crops or picking cotton, they were in church. As a child, Staton sang in the choir. "The crowds would get very emotional," she recalls. "At the time I didn't really know why they were crying so much. I remember once when the audience got so emotional, throwing their pocket books at my feet and so on, that I got really scared and ran off to my mother."
When Staton's mother moved them to Cleveland, where her oldest son lived, his wife took them to her church, which was pastored by Bishop Jewel and they (the Staton children) were asked to do a song. They sang every song they had ever heard that night and for the first time, a band backed them.
Impressed by their obvious talent, Jewel asked Candi (then 10 years old) and her older sister, Maggie, to sing with her group. She added Naomi Harrison to the line-up and they became the Jewel Gospel Trio.
The trio was an immediate hit with the church audiences. They recorded several singles for Nashboro Records, such as I Looked Down the Line (And I Wondered) and Too Late. The trio toured extensively, even overseas to places such as the Philippines. They appeared on bills with the Staple Singers, the Soul Stirrers and Aretha Franklin, among others.
TIME OF PAIN
When she came of age, Candi left the group. "We were taken advantage of and I left because of the misuse," she said. Instead of pursuing a career, Candi pursued marriage and motherhood. However, after seven years of matrimony, she had grown tired of her husband's jealousy and physical abuse. So when her minister made a pass at her, she just snapped. "I said, 'Forget you, forget church and forget everybody. I'm through with God. Bye!' And I said, 'I'm gonna sing the blues,' just like that," she said.
The big break soon followed. Her brother had dared her to sing on amateur night at the 27/28 Club in Birmingham. She went up and sang Do Right Woman and won a booking to open for Clarence Carter, her future husband. He liked her and asked her to open for him on the road.
After hooking up with Clarence, Candi enjoyed smash Top 10 R&B hits such as I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than To Be A Young Man's Fool), Sweet Feeling, Stand By Your Man, He Called Me Baby, Mr. & Mrs. Untrue, Too Hurt To Cry and In The Ghetto, which won a Grammy nomination and a personal letter of praise from Elvis Presley.
