Candi Staton
Known as the “First Lady of Southern Soul,” Canzetta Maria “Candi” Staton (1940- ) has recorded more than two dozen studio albums and has been nominated for four Grammy awards in the rhythm and blues (R&B) and gospel categories. Although Staton is perhaps most widely known for the 1976 disco hit “Young Hearts Run Free,” critics and fans often remark on her ability to combine lyrics steeped in country heartbreak with powerful soul vocals, southern grooves, and an upbeat tempo. Staton’s career spans seven decades and encompasses hundreds of soul, gospel, Americana, and disco recordings as well as founding the record label Beracah Records. She was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
Staton was born on March 13, 1940. She was raised in the rural town of Hanceville, Cullman County. There, she grew to love singing from an early age with encouragement from her mother and her church. When Staton was 10 years old, her mother brought Candi and her sister Maggie to Cleveland, Ohio, and introduced them to Bishop Mattie Lou Jewell, a religious leader for the Church of the Living God. Impressed with the sisters’ singing voices, Jewell invited the girls to attend her school in Nashville, Tennessee. At age 13, Staton began touring nationally with the Jewell Gospel Trio. Formed under Jewell’s direction, the group was comprised of Candi and Maggie Staton and Jewell’s granddaughter Naomi Harrison. The group performed alongside such nationally acclaimed acts as Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke and recorded several gospel singles. The girls were not compensated for their performances or recordings.
At age 18, Staton returned to Hanceville to live with her mother. Soon after, she married preacher Joe Williams. The couple would have four children together. Their seven-year marriage was an abusive one, and the couple divorced in 1968. That year, Staton was performing at a club in Birmingham, Jefferson County, where she met musician and Montgomery native Clarence Carter. Staton joined Carter as a back-up singer for his national tour, and the two were married in 1970. They had one child, Clarence Carter Jr., before divorcing in 1973. Carter wrote and recorded some of the most well-known songs of his career, including “The Dark End of The Street” and “Patches,” during his brief marriage to Staton.
Carter introduced Staton to record producer Rick Hall of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Colbert County, where the next phase of Staton’s music career would take place. Carter wrote the first soul song that Staton recorded at FAME, “I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool).” Between 1968 and 1974, Staton recorded 48 soul songs at FAME Studios, including hit covers of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto,” both of which were nominated for Grammy awards, in 1971 and 1973, respectively.
In 1976, Staton released the disco anthem “Young Hearts Run Free,” the biggest hit of her career. The song reached number 1 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles and number 20 on Billboard’s Hot 100 that year. Producer David Crawford wrote the song for Staton, reportedly inspired by her abusive relationship with her then-husband and manager Jimmy James, whom she married in 1974. When Staton told James that she wanted to leave the marriage, he threatened her life and the lives of her children, and she left him in 1977. Crawford’s lyrics speak to Staton’s heartbreak, imploring young women to “run free” and guard themselves against hurtful men. The song was recorded in a single take.
Staton’s disco career at Warner Brothers records continued through the 1970s. In 1977, she released a rendition of the Bee Gees’ song “Nights on Broadway.” The following year, Crawford and Staton collaborated once again on the song “Victim,” which picked up on the some of the same lyrical themes as “Young Hearts Run Free.”
In the 1980s, Staton revisited her gospel roots. With support from televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Staton and her new husband, drummer Jim Sussewell, founded the Atlanta-based record label Beracah Records. Two gospel albums from this era, Make Me an Instrument, released in 1983, and Sing a Song, released in 1986, were nominated for Grammy awards in those years, respectively. Staton’s faith found further expression in her television show New Direction, which ran on the Christian-focused Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in the 1980s and featured a combination of Staton’s gospel music and spoken word inspiration. In later decades, Staton continued to produce numerous gospel records for the Beracah label.
Staton gained international attention in 1991, when her 1986 vocals, originally recorded for a television weight-loss documentary, appeared in the British club scene remix “You Got the Love” by British songwriting team The Source. Staton reportedly had no memory of the original recording when she first heard the song. The song became Staton’s most successful recording in Europe, staying on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart for 11 weeks and peaking at number four. The song gained renewed attention in 2009 when it was covered by Florence and the Machine, a London-based rock band, for the group's debut album, Lungs.
After focusing on gospel music throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s, Staton returned to her southern soul legacy in the 2000s. In 2006, Staton signed with Honest Jon’s Records to produce the southern soul album His Hands. Featuring songs written by country stars Merle Haggard, Charlie Rich, and Will Oldham, as well as several songs penned by Staton herself, the album richly intertwines soul with country and gospel elements. Staton’s daughter Cassandra Hightower performed as a back-up singer on the album, and Staton’s son Marcus Williams played the drums. The album was produced by Mark Nevers, who is best known for his work with the alternative country band Lambchop, of which he was also a member.
Staton married professional baseball player Otis Nixon in 2010. The couple divorced in 2012. In 2014, Staton returned to FAME Studios to record the album Life Happens, which includes several tracks produced by her former collaborator Rick Hall. The opening song “I Ain’t Easy to Love” features Alabamians Jason Isbell, then of the Drive-By Truckers, and John Paul White, then with The Civil Wars folk rock duo. The album received positive reviews. In 2018, Staton collaborated with producer Mark Nevers for a second time on her 2018 album Unstoppable, recorded for Beracah Records. Later that year, Staton was diagnosed with breast cancer, but has reportedly been cancer-free since 2019.
Overall, Staton has been married six times and has five children. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband Henry Hooper. Staton’s newest album, Back to My Roots, was released in February 2025.
