{"id":22578,"date":"2021-10-08T08:11:37","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T13:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=22578"},"modified":"2021-10-08T08:11:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T13:11:37","slug":"four-time-grammy-award-nominee-candi-staton-in-her-own-words-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=22578","title":{"rendered":"four-time Grammy Award nominee, CANDI STATON, IN HER OWN WORDS AND MORE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Candi Staton: \u2018When the promoters tried not to pay I had to get my gun out\u2019<\/span><\/h1>\n
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@IamCandiStaton<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I’m not afraid of anything. I’ve done everything that there is to do. I’ve gone everywhere. I’ve been all over the country, all over the world. I’ve gone on stages. I can talk to presidents. I can talk to anyone. I’m not intimidated, so I know now that I have the confidence that I wish I had when I was 20.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Candi<\/picture><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Return to the source \u2026 Candi Staton, who has gone from soul and disco to dance-pop but kept her gospel roots.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Between the \u2018chitlin\u2019 circuit\u2019 and her new rave tunes, the soul diva even picked up praise from Elvis. In our new series where you ask the questions, this storied musician reveals a few untold yarns<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Why do you think that your early 70s classic albums (I\u2019m Just a Prisoner, Stand By Your Man, Candi Staton etc) are less canonised than other \u2018classic\u2019 albums of that period by the Stones, the Beatles etc? mesm<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back then I didn\u2019t get on the same chart as those guys because Black artists on smaller labels were put in the R&B charts, not the pop charts. It was musical segregation. To cross over you needed a big label and money behind you. There was a lot of politics. In the UK there was one chart, which is how it should be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you play the \u2018chitlin\u2019 circuit<\/a>\u2019 in the 60s? RedGammon<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am writing a book about it. The first thing they told me was to get a gun. I was in my 20s. I didn\u2019t like guns! Eventually I told them to get me one small enough to fit in my handbag. It wasn\u2019t in my personality to become a scary gangster, but when the promoters tried not to pay I had to get my gun out even though I was shaking in my shoes. Some of them would laugh at me with my little pistol. Others would say: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do that, girl. You\u2019re classy\u201d, and pay me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How did you feel when Elvis showed his appreciation for your wonderful version of In the Ghetto<\/a>? MullOtter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elvis wrote me a note saying: \u201cYou did a great job.\u201d I kept it in my kitchen desk for years. Then after I got divorced and moved house I couldn\u2019t find it anywhere. Clarence Carter [Candi\u2019s future second husband] was singing the song on the [studio] floor and [its writer] Mac Davis said: \u201cYou know what? I think a woman should sing this song, because it\u2019s about a woman.\u201d They put the lyrics in front of me. I sang it. Then I went back to reading my magazine [laughs].<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did the Bee Gees approach you to record Nights on Broadway<\/a>? DaveParry<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I never met the Bee Gees, but I used to hum it and one day I mentioned to [producer] Arif Mardin that I wanted to do it. He said: \u201cWhy don\u2019t we just do it?\u201d The Bee Gees featured it on one of their TV specials and commented that they liked it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why has Now You\u2019ve Got The Upper Hand<\/a> never been rereleased as a single since the Unity seven-inch was withdrawn? Stonecold316<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was living in Birmingham, Alabama, and I had a contract with Unity but wasn\u2019t doing well. Then Clarence Carter introduced me to Rick Hall from Fame Studios and he signed me the night I auditioned. It was my big opportunity, but I was under contract. So I told Unity that I was retiring to bring up my kids and could they tear up the contract? They said: \u201cWell, it\u2019s going to cost you.\u201d They hadn\u2019t even paid me for what I had done! I was freshly divorced, had four children and no money. Clarence gave me $1,500 in cash and that was the end of Unity. I\u2019ve never told anyone that story before. The northern soul people in the UK went wild for that song. The original white label is worth a mint<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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