She has our love.
A true music superstar back in the limelight. I guess spirituality plays a big part in your life?
“Oh it does, very much so. That’s basically the foundation of my life right now. It has always been ever since I was a child really – the gospel and gospel music has always been my stabilizing factor. The church and gospel would always keep me grounded even when I was going through the stage when I was into alcohol a lot and when I’d strayed away from the foundational standards that my mother had set me. It has always kept me grounded because there were certain things that I wouldn’t do that people who didn’t have any kind of standard’s or boundaries would do. I was always reminded – “Look, you’re from the church and your mother was a Christian and you can’t do this and you weren’t taught that”. So those were the things that kept me grounded – gospel music and the church.”
‘You Got The Love’. A whole new generation of kids have now got to know that track because of Florence and The Machine. How do you feel about her re-work and the fact that there’s a whole new generation of kids are discovering you?
“I think it’s great, it’s wonderful. I think she did a great job and she got the Brit award for it and it’s so wonderful that they would bring attention to that song. It’s such a good and uplifting song. I don’t know what the situation is in Europe right now, but over here we’re going through a financial crisis somewhat, and when you think about the lyric ‘Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air’ it’s like – well, who doesn’t right now? People’s home lives’ are becoming harder, car’s are being re-possessed and people are barely making it. Whether you know it or not it really is an inspirational gospel song and who else can we call on except God in this time that’d be able to sort out all this mess that we’ve gotten ourselves in to? So I think it’s a wonderful eye-opener for young people to hear and appreciate a positive message instead of so many negative messages that we sometimes hear on the radio.”
Would you agree that your profile is as big now as it was back in the 70’s?
“Yes, I would say so, I’m pretty sure that it is what with the new records and stuff that I’ve done over the last 4 years with EMI and Honest John, so I guess it would be – especially in Europe. I don’t know about here in the US, but I guess with the internet and because the entire Warner Bros’ back catalogue is now on iTunes, there has been a lot of downloads of a lot of the stuff that I’ve done and new stuff that I’ve done. So overall I’d say yes – in a ‘legendary standard’ way I would say that it is the same.”
Over here in Europe your profile is huge. Would you say that in America your status is the same?
“Yes I would think so, the people who are doing sampling from my tracks such as ‘He Called Me Baby’ and with Florence and The Machine covering ‘You Got The Love’ I’d assume my name must be being mentioned in almost every interview that they do, so that makes it even greater.”
Do you feel you’re more of a soul singer or a gospel singer? Which one to you is more important?
“Well, y’know what, I think Soul music is nothing but gospel music – it’s just the lyrics that are different. They have the same chord changes and you get the same feeling from a ‘soul’ song as you would do from a ‘gospel’ song. I could sing a blues song right now and it would sound like a gospel song if you put the words ‘Jesus’ or ‘God’ into it – it would be the same thing. The only difference lies in the lyrics. That’s all.”
I can understand that because I guess Rock n’ Roll can lead a person astray – a lot!
“Oh yeah totally, for example alcohol and drugs and all that stuff. I never really got into hard drugs because of the standard that my mum set for me.”
So I guess your spirituality helped keep you on the straight and narrow so to speak?
“Oh yeah, it did. And I thank God for it now because there’s no telling what I would be and there’s no telling about what I may have had now – Hepatitis? Would I be on needles? My life would have been cut short. Now I can see that by standing by the foundations and the standards that my parents set, I didn’t go in that direction.”
So is Candi life good these days?
“Well, I got married a couple of months ago!”
Congratulations. So a whole new chapter in your life…
“It is. We turned over another leaf when that happened. I had so much agony and pain in marriage and I vowed never to get married again, but I met this wonderful man who is a retired major league baseball player. His name is Otis Nixon and he’s played in almost every major baseball league in the country…”
You made a personal appearance at Glastonbury not so long ago, how was that?
“It was wonderful. I enjoyed every moment of it. The audience were just ecstatic and I got so involved – they knew every song and I always say that if I forget my lyrics, I’ll just read their lips! They knew every word and it was amazing how they knew all the words to the songs. It was just marvellous and I thank God that I was able to do it and that I got such a wonderful reaction from them. I would love to do it again someday. I hope Glastonbury doesn’t ever fold because it’s such a wonderful outlet for artists.”
How do you feel about House music? Would you say that House music is just Disco but re-packaged for a new generation?
“Yes you’re right, that’s a wonderful way of describing it. That’s exactly what it is. We just give names to different things and we go by titles. With house/disco music the name ‘Disco’ was somewhat buried, but now it’s rolling again with a different name and it’s called House music. It’s the same beats, it’s the same feel and it’s the same everything. Nothing’s really changed that much and I think it’s wonderful and I love doing it. It’s so energetic and it keeps people dancing and if there’s one thing I love to see it’s to see people dance and I love to see them enjoy themelves. Life is just too short to be depressed!”
Let’s talk about your new song ‘Wilder Side’ which you did with Rasmus Faber. What’s the message behind this record?
“It’s just a fun record. It’s like a girl talking to a guy and she’s saying so much that I want to say: ‘I need your love in so many ways, the time is right, the mood is right, so bring out the wilder side in me tonight’. And she’s also saying ‘Hey, I’ve been depressed and sitting alone in the house a lot doing nothing, but I’ve got a side that you haven’t seen for a while so let’s bring it out! Lets dance, let’s go to a club let’s enjoy ourselves tonight because I want to feel free!'”
So is this a song about Candi Staton then?
“Well not necessarily, it could be about anybody. I was actually at the Mall when I wrote the words ha! There was this couple who were just clowning around and acting up, they were laughing and having fun, and I thought to myself ‘boy, they’ve got a wild side!’ and from then I just thought, ‘that’s what I’m going to do with this song. I’ll call it the Wilder Side’.”
What’s coming out from you next…
Well I have this new song that I’ve got to write some lyrics to and the ‘Mavis Project’ is out too. I’ve been doing a lot of co-writing with other artists and DJ’s, and I love doing that and it’s a lot of fun. It takes me away from the mundane! I’m also writing books at home and I’m working on my autobiography and that should come out this year.”
Your experience within the music industry is immense. What advice would you tell young people who want to be singers or who want to enter into the industry?
“I would say it takes a lot of perseverance and it takes a lot of focus. You can’t afford to get distracted, especially by your friends or by people who try to advise you to things that you don’t want to do. You know what’s in your heart, and your heart should tell what to do. It depends on how badly you want it. There’s a lot people out there who have got talent but they don’t want it badly enough. They just end up sitting around knowing that they can sing and knowing that they have a talent but they don’t use it because perhaps they’re following someone else’s lead. You have to follow your own lead, your own mind and your own heart and if you do that, it’s going to lead you in the right direction.”
Thank you honey. x
