Candi Staton has legacy beyond compare. Responsible for some of the most memorable and best-loved soul records of all time, Staton has voice that is currently captivating a new generation of music lovers just as it did when she first oooed and ahhed onto the music scene as a soul siren in the '70s.
With her latest single ‘Hallelujah Anyway’ hitting the digital shelves this week – alongside remixers from Larse and Frankie Knuckle’s Director’s Cut project, we caught up with Candi to discuss sampling, performance and why she thinks her records have so forcibly stood the test of time.
Thanks for speaking to us Candi, how are you today?
I’m doing wonderful today, it’s been a great day for me today, it’s beautiful here in Atlanta, and I’ve enjoyed my day today.
As an artist that’s been sampled and covered many times, how do you feel about the process of reusing other people’s material as a legitimate way to make music?
When I listen to other people’s music, I listen to them as demos, I want to create something from that song, from the lyrics, I want to put myself into it, I want to make it my own. Because of that I love taking others people’s material and some of the songs that I’ve done, like Nights on Broadway, a lot of other songs that I’ve done over and over again. I took the originals just as a demo, and then I went back in and I felt it myself and I put Candi’s Staton into each one of them as much as I could. I thought that the touch I wanted to put in there would touch parts of me that I hadn’t felt before.
The church played an important part in the early part of your career; does it still play a part today?
Yeah, the church is my foundation, my life was built on the church. I was going to church before I even know where I was, even in my mother’s womb I knew ‘Amazing Grace’ probably because that what they always sung. So it’s been a great foundation for my belief system, for my faith, it made me who I am today.
You’re still performing live after more than 40 years, do you still get the same feeling walking out on stage as you did years ago?
I guess the same feeling but a greater rush than it was years ago, because years ago I wasn’t confident in who I was and what I was doing. I was always competing, I hadn’t settled in to being myself, and now when I walk out there I go out there with so much confidence that I just know how to deliver. I’ve gained the respect and I’ve lived the songs so many times, each time I have a different interpretation of that very song because probably the day before, or the week before, I’ve already experienced it again. For instance; ‘Young Hearts, Run Free’, and all those kind of songs, you reach back in and you relive things over and over again, and I try to sing true. I won’t do a song that doesn’t fit me in a way that I’ve lived it, or I’m living it, or I’m about to live it. So when I sing it that’s why I can do soul, that’s the reason people would call it soul music, because you get so much of yourself involved in the lyrics; the soul is the mind, the wheel and the emotions, so all of those three get involved in that song. That’s why I sing like I do; because I’ve lived so much the songs that I’m singing.
What’s the most enjoyable part about being a musician for you?
The most enjoyable part of being a musician is that, first of all its something that I love to do, it’s a part of me, it’s just something that I was raised in. If I lost my connections with my music, I don’t even know if I would want to be around, because it’s so much a part of me, It’s like losing my right hand or a part of my body, so it just means so much to me, it’s like we’re married, we’ll always be.
Why do you think your records have stood the test of time while others of a similar period have been forgotten?
My records have stood the test of time because of the lyrical content, and the gospel foundation that the music is set in. You notice gospel music probably has been the foundation for every music out here, it all started from the church, even in the cotton fields when the slaves were singing “nobody knows the trouble I see”, even back then those chord changes have never changed, and as we go on and on and as life goes on that music will never change and the lyrical content will never stop being the way we live every day.
How does it feel to be such a respected name among fans and musicians who were born long after you had started your career?
It feels wonderful; the word respect. I’m so glad that they would honestly respect me and my music, because there’s so much disrespect out here today in terms of women and men. We’ve got genres of music that call us all sorts of names, but to be able to do a class act in this day and age, and I applaud all the women out here, not just myself, that are willing to stand up and be a lady even in the midst of all the mess and stuff that we see, and all the music, we can still dress classy without showing anything, but we’re still sexy, and to be an example of that is an honour for me.
Who are some of the artists who have mentioned being some of Candi Staton fans?
Mary J Blige for one; I’ve never met her but she mentioned me in several articles. Aretha Franklin even mentioned me in her book, so many artists, they don’t come to my mind at the moment but it makes you feel really good that with all the artists out here in the world that they could have named they would pull my name up and say I was the one that inspired them to do what they do today, not Aretha of course, but Mary J said that in her interview.
Do you ever get bored of singing tracks like ‘You got the Love’ for the 1000th time?
No, I never get tired of singing ‘You Got the Love’, each time I do it I get a different inspiration, I feed off of the vibes I get from my audience and when I feel them, sometimes I do it differently. If I go out on the stage at the Glastonbury festival I might do it different to when I do it at a night club; the vibes are different. Each time I go out there, it’s always a challenge to me, when I’m up there I always wonder what I’m going to do with it tonight, how am I going to deliver it tonight. It’s like when I walk out I’m with a different group of people and I don’t even know what might happen, so it’s always exciting just to know that when I sing this song, what is going to happen tonight, so I’m just as excited as they are when I walk out on stage.
Let’s talk about your new single ‘Hallelujah Anyway’, when did you write it and what inspired it?
Actually I didn’t write it. Monica Pollard, a friend of mine that went to church with me in Washington DC is a song writer, and she gave me several songs. Some of them I liked, some of them I didn’t like, and she said she had a song she’d just written just for me. I listened to it and I fell in love with it immediately. You might have some problems, you might be going through things but still rejoice, you know it’s going to all be over, so when I got Hallelujah Anyway I said I’ve got to put this down. So I found the guy that was able to put it into that beat that is so beautiful to me and it caught the ear and the attention of the young crowd. Then Defected heard it and wanted it and wanted to remix it and I think they did a fantastic job, I am so excited about this song.
How did you come to add it to your show?
We were looking for an encore song that would fit right into ‘You Got the Love’. It’s really the same beat, when you’ve got a group of people out there howling ‘More! More! More!’ and you’ve just finished ‘You Got the Love’, so you can’t keep singing it over and over again so we were looking for something that would be the same kind of song and the same kind of musical genre. So I played ‘Hallelujah Anyway’ to the band and they just loved it and so we picked it up and we started doing it as an encore and it worked very well and people started asking how could they find it, how could they get it, where would they find it and we just decided to put it out.
Hallelujah Anyway has been remixed by both Frankie Knuckles and Larse, how do you like the different interpretations?
Well Larse is a little laid back, its mostly vocal, my vocal is out front, and the background vocal and its very soft, most of the beat comes from the song itself. The other one is awesome, I love it, it’s great dance music, a great dance song.
You’ve got a little history with Frankie, right?
Yeah, Frankie Knuckles has quite a few of my songs. Of course Frankie started ‘You Got the Love’ when he first mixed it and he has also worked on a couple of my other records.
Do you feel that music has fundamentally changed since you started in the business?
Yeah, music has changed tremendously. I don’t know where it’s going, it has a different beat, its more bold now in lyrics, and when I’m looking for that feeling it’s like nobody’s looking to feel anything anymore. We’re just looking for something to dance by or just to sing along with, but back in the day when I was coming on if it didn’t have a feeling in it, if you didn’t feel it, you didn’t do it, and now it’s like music is just like, I don’t know what I would call it; it’s just like something to do. I don’t know how hard they work to get it but it’s just like it doesn’t have that ‘oomph’ like it used to, to me anyway.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about?
I’m still trying to remember my band member’s names! Christian Taylor’s the drummer, Earnie McKone is the bass player, we just got a new keyboard player, Mark is German. Xavier Barnett and Susie and all the background singers. Mark’s been with me for 6 years; Mark Vandegote. What is the new keyboard player’s name? Brian! His name is Brian.
