M ay 28, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age B2
'r IO
Candi Staton - 'I Will Trust The Lord'
W
-
when a Caribbean singer named
Harella first recorded it.
Following this, Candi goes back
to the old hymn book and picks out
“Tis So Sweet” which she sings with
the only keyboard accompaniment.
This track glides into the poignant “I
Will Trust In The Lord.”
Candi wasn’t satisfied to just cover
other artists though. She even covers
herself, bringing in the M ighty
Clouds o f Joy’s raspy lead singer,
Joe Ligon, for a rousing cover o f
Candi’s 1987 Grammy nominated
gospel hit “The First Face I Want To
The legendary Sweetheart of
Soul, Candi Staton (o f “Young
Hearts Run Free” fame), has re­
leased a new album which is a
uniquely creative exercise. It may
well be the first gospel album
boasting covers o f classic pop,
soul and gospel songs.
Pouring over several o f the great
Top Forty tunes she’s heard over
the years, Candi Staton found a
dozen or so that she toyed with
transforming into gospel epipha­
nies.
She narrowed those down to
the rollicking Stax staple “Hold
On, I’m Coming,” a #1 R&B and
#21 Pop smash when released by
Sam & D ave in 1966 and a
funkified rendition o f Simon &
Garfunkel’s classic “Bridge Over
Troubled W ater” which was a #1
Pop hit in 1970.
Backing Candi on the record is
the Atlanta Super Choir, a group­
ing o f tw enty-five thunderous
voices that backs Candi through­
out the album.
In addition to the pop-soul re­
makes, Candi covers five stan­
dard church songs. She took Dor­
o th y L ove C o a te s & the
H arm onettes’ “Old Landmark”
and let’s seque into “Everybody
Will Be Happy Over There,” an­
other shouting standard.
“It’s more like on the beat of
the Holiness church,” Candi re­
marks “rock o f My Salvation” isn ’ t
nearly as old, but Candi first heard
it on the island o f St. Thomas
See.”
As a bonus, the album features
five completely new songs which
are sure to become classics in time.
After the great success o f her #1
gospel single “Mama” in spring 1996,
Candi was surprised when the words
to “The Tears That M ama Cried”
came to her.
It’s another poignant southern soul
number which she dedicates to her
late mother.
Candi loves the old time gospel
feeling, so she wrote two other new
songs with that era in mind, “It Won t
Be Too Long” and “Fix It.”
C andi’s keyboard player, Kelvin
Broughton, has worked with the Pace
Sisters and several other gospel stars,
also contributed two great songs.
“Set My Spirit Free” is a fast choir
song and “The Anointing is a pretty
ballad showing off some ofthe higher
range o f Candi’s unique vocal in­
strument.
Candi is pleased with the overall
Cox F uneral H om e
message and vibe o f the album.
“I will never again do a MIDI
gospel album where the keyboard
puts down the basic track and every­
body builds off o f that,” Candi says.
............... really
»„11« tn
n w «hv
know
shy thev
they were
were crvine
crying so
so
everybody was vibing off each other.
I was singing the song as they laid the
track down so they could feel me. I
was the picture and they painted
around me.”
much...once I remember the audi­
ence go so emotional, throwing their
pocket books at my feet and so on,
that I got really scared and ran off to
my mother.”
C andi’s moody, gambling, hard
drinking father drover her mother to
move Candi and her siblings to Cleve­
land to start a new life without him.
After an impromptu song by Candi
and her sister Maggie at a church,
they were discovered by Bishop
Jewel, a woman who presided over
several churches throughout the
country. She formed the Jewel Gos­
pel Trio around the Staton girls and
Naomi Harrison.
The trio was an immediate hit
with church audiences.
They recorded several singles for
Nashboro, Savoy and other record­
ing labels. Their sons such as “I
Looked Down The Line (And I Won­
dered)” and “Too Late” earned them
radio airplay and their success led to
sharing stages with the Staple Sing­
ers, the Soul Stirrers, and Aretha
Franklin among others.
When she came o f age, Candi left
the group to marry singer Lou Rawls,
but exercised a w om an’s prerogative
to change her mind and married
someone else. However, after seven
years o f housewifery, Candi had
grown tired o f her husband’s abuse
At that point, she decided to resur­
rect her singing career and the big
break soon followed. Her brother
dared her to sing on amateur night at
the 27/28 Club in Birmingham. She
Candi S ta to n is th e legendary S w e e th e a rt o f Soul.
Candi first sang in church when
she was a mere four years old. “The
crowds would get very emotional,”
Candi recalls. “At the time I didn’t
“We did this album the old time way.
We did it live. The guitar would hear
me do something and he would get a
lick on it. It was a live to track,
Inspect the Beautiful Cox Funeral Chapel
"Planning your funeral is our first
consideration. Equipped to serve all
religions, races, veterans and
fraternal organizations. ”
—Jerome Tanner, Funeral Director
him on the road.
After dabbling with a couple o f
small labels, Candi landed her first
million-selling single, “I’d Rather
Be An Old M an’s Sw eetheart
(Than A Young One’s Fool)” for
Fame/Capitol Records in 1969.
She soon follow ed-up w ith a
string o f southern soul classics
such as “I ’m Just A Prisoner (O f
Y our G ood L o v in ’),” “ Sw eet
Feeling,” and “As Long As He
Takes Care o f H om e.” T wo other
m illion-sellers from this period,
“ In The G hetto” and “Stand By
Y our M an” were nom inated for
G ram m y Awards
In 1976 Candi becam e a disco
star, scoring with “Young Hearts
Run Free.” O ther dance anthem s
such as “V ictim ,” “W hen You
W ake Up T om orrow ,” “C hance”
and “H onest I do” m ade C andi
the third best-know n disco lady
in the world after Donna Sum
mer and G loria Gaynor.
A fter a series o f personal trau
mas, Staton becam e a born-again
C hristian in 1982.
H er in itia l g o s p e l a lb u m
“ M ake M e A n I n s tr u m e n t”
peaked at #7 on B illboard s gos­
pel charts and won a G ram m y
nod.
S h e’s recorded eight other hit
gospel albums.
would brighten a home!
A patient, loving family with
reliable structure could really
benefit Victor.
Oregon agencies waive or re­
duce fees for the adoption o f
Oregon’s children in state care,
and pre-adoption training’s are
offered statewide.
To learn more about adoption
and the children awaiting homes,
contact The Special Needs Adop­
tion Coalition at The Boys and
Girls Aid Society, (503) 222-
9661.
Oregon needing adoption
“Before You Must
Make a Decision”
W oman” and won a booking to
open for R&B singer Clarence
Carter, her future husband. He liked
her style and asked her to open for
Loving family awaits Victor
Child is one of 350 children in
2736 N.E. Rodney, Portland,
Oregon (503) 281-4891
sang Aretha
Aretha Franklin’s
Franklin s “Dc
Do Right
sang
This delightful and energetic
eleven-year-old is in need of a
forever family!
Victor is one o f over 350 Or­
egon ch ild ren w aiting to be
adopted. Singing in the church
choir, playing sports and riding
his bike are ways in which Victor
likes to pass the time.
Going to movies and sampling
d ifferen t resta u ra n ts provide
some additional spice and vari­
ety.
Victor is an inquisitive child,
liking to investigate new things
and striving to decipher “how
things works.”
Thriving on individual atten­
tion and quality one-on-one time,
he has been working hard to over­
come the traumas o f his past.
Victor is a terrific kid who
Victor, age 11
O b itu a r y
BU Y 1. I GET I FREE SALE
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Funeral services w ere held
T hursday for W illie B eatrice
McNair (Maiden name King) at
Killingsworth Little Chapel o f The
Chimes.
Willie died May 14, 1997 at
Legacy Emanuel Hospital o f death
congestive heart failure.
Willie was bom June 3,1923 in
Little Rock, Ark. She has lived in
Portland for over 50 years. Her
husband, Luther McNair died in
1959. She was a homemaker and a
member ofFirstAME Zion Church
in Portland.
Lucerne Milk
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Willie
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L ess .
I
The 1997 Parenting for Peace
and Justice fam ily cam p w ill be
held June 12 to June 15, 1997.
The cam p will be held at the
A ldersgate Conference Center near
Turner, OR.
The them e for this y e a r’s cam p
will be “nurturing and em pow er­
ing fam ilies for a just and peaceful
w orld.”
The theme reflects the great need
in the Pacific Northwest to encour­
age peace in the home and solidarity
in our communities.
For registration information con­
tact the Archdiocese Office o f Justice
and Peace, 2838 E. Burnside Stree,
Portland, OR (503) 233-8361.