Biography

Can you be a witness? The Staples Jr. Singers were part of a vanguard of soul gospel artists in the 1970s that broke from tradition to testify with the groove. When they wrote these songs — all of them stone cold soul — they had one question on their minds: When Do We Get Paid? Like many gospel groups at the time, the Staples Jr. Singers were a family band: Annie, A.R.C., and Edward Brown from Aberdeen, Mississippi. They were just teenagers when they started, in 1969—they named themselves after their idols (the Staple Singers, if we need to spell it out for you)—and they built a reputation by playing school talent shows and front yards near their hometown on the banks of the Tombigbee River. Studious listeners may recognize the Staples Jr. Singers from the critically acclaimed compilation World Spirituality Classics 2: The Time for Peace Is Now - Gospel Music About Us (2019), which features their single “We’ve Got a Race to Run.” Forty years, three generations, and countless performances later, the original members of the Staples Jr. Singers are still on the circuit, performing almost every weekend with their families—and in November (2022) they're going on tour in Europe (!), playing what will surely be one of the best shows you'll see all year.