Cleotha Staples, a member of the chart-topping gospel group The Staple Singers, has died at the age of 78.
The family group had eight US top 40 singles in the 1970s, including the number ones I’ll Take You There and Let’s Do It Again.
The group enjoyed success on the Stax label and Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label.
Friend and publicist Bill Carpenter said Cleotha Staples suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Her sister Mavis paid tribute to Cleotha Staples’ “soothing” voice.
“A lot of singers would try to sing like her,” Mavis Staples said in a statement.
“Her voice would just ring in your ear. It wasn’t harsh or hitting you hard, it was soothing. She gave us that country sound.”
Cleotha Staples, a member of the chart-topping gospel group The Staple Singers, has died at the age of 78
The group, which also featured father Pops, sister Yvonne and brother Pervis, began singing in church in Chicago in 1948.
They were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and received a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2005.
Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, described them as “one of Stax Records’ most important and successful acts”.
“Their songs spread messages of hope, brotherhood and self-respect through some of R&B’s finest and most passionate voices, and their music remains as vital today as when it was recorded,” he said.
“Music has suffered a great loss, and our thoughts and condolences are with her family, friends and all those who have been moved and influenced by her strong, soulful voice.”
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Soul star Cecil Womack died last week in Africa at the age of 65, his brother Bobby has confirmed.
Cecil Womack was best known for the 1988 hit Teardrops, which he recorded with his second wife Linda Cooke under the name Womack and Womack.
He also wrote hits for stars including Teddy Pendergrass, The O’Jays and his first wife, Motown singer Mary Wells.
“I was terribly upset when I heard about my brother’s passing, and I still am,” wrote Bobby Womack on Facebook.
“We made music together for a long time, but we’ve had many differences over the years.
“Thankfully we got a chance to reunite last year after a very long separation – and little did I know that it would be the last time I would see him.
“I can only pass along what I have now learned, which is to not let anything – money, success, etc, come between you and your family.”
Born in Ohio, Cecil Womack began his career in gospel group The Womack Brothers, alongside his elder siblings Bobby, Harry, Friendly and Curtis.
They toured with soul star Sam Cooke, who took them under his wing. He eventually persuaded them to start recording secular music and changed their name to The Valentinos.
Several hit records followed, including It’s All Over Now – later a UK number one for The Rolling Stones.
Cecil Womack died last week in Africa at the age of 65
When Sam Cooke was shot dead at the age of 33, the band disintegrated.
Bobby Womack courted controversy by marrying Sam Cooke’s wife, Barbara, two months later. Cecil Womack compounded the scandal by proposing to Sam Cooke’s daughter Linda, then aged 12.
She turned him down, later telling told the Independent newspaper the proposal was simply a “beautiful gesture”, with Cecil Womack “stepping in to protect me” after the death of her father.
For many years, the couple led separate lives. Cecile Womack married My Guy singer Mary Wells and fathered three children. Linda Cooke endured further controversy after a teenage fling with her stepfather, Cecil Womack’s brother, Bobby, by then a successful solo star, was forced to flee the family home at gunpoint.
In 1976, Cecil Womack and Mary Wells divorced, and he quickly rekindled his relationship with Linda Cooke, marrying her a year later in Las Vegas.
Marriage led to a songwriting partnership that produced hits including Love TKO for Teddy Pendergrass and New Day for George Benson.
The duo released their first album as Womack And Womack in 1983, spawning the UK top 20 hit Love Wars, and further singles Baby I’m Scared of You and TKO – a new version of the Teddy Pendergrass song.
However Teardrops, from their fourth album Conscience, is perhaps their best known recording.
A staple of 80s FM radio, it reached number three in the UK charts, with its staccato hook “Footsteps on the dance floor, remind me baby of you”.
It has since been covered by artists as varied as Elton John, the Sugababes and Mercury prize-winners The xx.
During a trip to Nigeria in the 1990s, Linda Cooke and Cecil Womack discovered ancestral ties to the Zekkariyas tribe, and began calling themselves Zeriiya and Zekkariyas respectively.
They later moved to Africa, and recorded an album with their seven children as The House of Zekkariyas. The final Womack and Womack album, Circular Motion, came out in 2007.
Cecil Womack died on February 1 in Africa. His family confirmed his death on Thursday.
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