After a seven-year absence from the U.S. gospel chart, the legendary 4x Grammy Award nominated recording artist Candi Staton is back with her first U.S. gospel radio single since 2008. The new song “Shout Out, Hallelujah” (Beracah Records) picks up on the singer’s dance roots that stretch from her recent multi-platinum European anthem “You Got The Love” to her million-seller “Young Hearts Run Free” that reached #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles and Club charts in 1976.
The rousing “Shout Hallelujah” anchors Staton’s forthcoming gospel album “It’s Time To Be Free” (Beracah Records). “Most of my gospel hits have been ballads,” says Staton. “I’ve never been known as a ballad singer in the mainstream market. I’ve always included dance-styled songs on my gospel albums but radio wouldn’t play them in the `80s and `90s. My radio promoter Tawanda Shamley feels this is a good time and that radio will be more receptive now than they have been in the past. It’s great to wake up and start your day off with a Hallelujah shout.”
The Alabama native’s journey began as a teenager in the 1950s gospel group The Jewel Gospel Trio, which toured with gospel greats such as Mahalia Jackson, Rev. C.L. Franklin and Sam Cooke. Staton became an R&B artist in 1968 and recorded a dozen southern soul hits such as “I’m Just A Prisoner” and “In The Ghetto” for Fame Records. She moved on to Warner Bros. in 1974 and became the third most successful female disco artist of the era (after Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor) with dance classics such as “Victim” and “When You Wake Up Tomorrow.”
In 1982, Staton left Pop music to become a gospel artist. Forming her own Beracah Records label, she’s released a dozen gospel albums such as the Grammy Award nominated “Sing A Song” that peaked at #7 and spent 61 weeks on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums sales chart in 1986. Over the years, she scored radio hits such as “Sin Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Love Lifted Me,” “Mama” and “The First Face I Want To See.” She also hosted weekly television programs “New Direction” and “Say Yes” on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) for more than twenty years.
In 2003, Staton re-launched her R&B career with critically acclaimed Americana albums such as “His Hands” (2006) and “Life Happens” (2014) that both charted on the Billboard Blues Albums sales chart. Concurrently, she made inspirational and gospel dance songs for the European market. Her signature tune “You Got The Love” hit the British Top Ten Pop chart with various remixes in 1991, 1997 and again in 2006. Florence & The Machine and Joss Stone have both covered it. After teaming with the British dance duo Groove Armada, Staton returned to the Top Ten of the American dance charts with “Love Sweet Sound” in 2008. In 2012, Staton enjoyed another dance hit with remixes by German DJ Larse and Frankie Knuckles. Various versions hit the dance charts in South Africa, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
