Candi Staton

Best known for her disco classic "Young Hearts Run Free," four-time Grammy nominee Candi Staton also embraced gospel, blues and Southern soul during a largely unsung career often inspired by her turbulent personal life. Born in the Alabama city of Hanceville in 1940 to an alcoholic father and neglectful mother, Candi Staton sought escape from her troubled upbringing through music, performing with sister Maggie and fellow teen Naomi Harrison in the Jewell Gospel Trio. The group toured alongside gospel greats such as Mahalia Jackson and the Soul Stirrers throughout the 1950s and early 1960s before Staton went solo, with her 1970 debut I'm Just a Prisoner and 1971 sophomore Stand By Your Man quickly establishing her as the First Lady of Southern Soul. Staton also picked up Grammy nominations for her cover of the latter's title track and Elvis Presley's "In the Ghetto" and recorded a total of 16 Top 40 R&B hits for Rick Hall's iconic Fame Studios before abandoning the sound that launched her to fame on 1976's dancefloor-focused Young Hearts Run Free. Inspired by Staton's attempts to flee her abusive third marriage, its title track peaked at No. 20 on the US Hot 100 and No. 2 in the UK, while singles including "Victim," "Destiny" and her rendition of The Bee Gees' "Nights on Broadway" further helped to cement her new-found disco diva status. 1979's Chance became her third Billboard 200 entry in 1979 but frustrated by her Warner Bros. label's apparent disinterest in her career, Staton subsequently shunned the pop world and returned to her gospel roots for 1983's Make Me An Instrument. She further embraced the genre on Sing a Song, Love Lifted Me and Stand Up and Be a Witness and co-founded an Atlanta ministry with drummer fourth husband John Sussewell. But she still occasionally dabbled in pop, most notably scoring a massive European hit with The Source's remix of "You Got the Love" in 1991 and then again with another version six years later. In the mid-'00s, she teamed up with Lambchop's Mark Nevers for the secular comeback, His Hands, and contributed two tracks to Groove Armada's Soundboy Rock, while 2009's Who's Hurting Now? saw her once again embrace her early Muscle Shoals sound. Featuring guest appearances from Jason Isbell and The Civil Wars' John Paul White, 2014's Life Happens helped introduce her inimitable gutsy voice to a new generation, while four years later she tackled songs by Patti Smith and Nick Lowe on her 30th studio effort, Unstoppable.