Gospel performer Roebuck "Pops" Staples, 85, spent a lifetime infusing pop music with social messages, convinced he could improve the world through the songs he sang. If the world didn't change, the music industry at least stood up and took notice. The patriarch of the Staple Singers, whose songs "I'll Take You There" and "Respect Yourself" topped charts a decade after the group brought social concerns of the 1960s to a wider audience, died of a heart attack Tuesday, Dec. 19, in his Dolton home. ...show more

Gospel performer Roebuck "Pops" Staples, 85, spent a lifetime infusing pop music with social messages, convinced he could improve the world through the songs he sang. If the world didn't change, the music industry at least stood up and took notice. The patriarch of the Staple Singers, whose songs "I'll Take You There" and "Respect Yourself" topped charts a decade after the group brought social concerns of the 1960s to a wider audience, died of a heart attack Tuesday, Dec. 19, in his Dolton home.

"The Staple Singers were one of the most influential gospel groups in pop music," said Anthony Heilbut, author of "The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times." "You could hear echoes of the Staples in everyone from Aretha Franklin to Prince to Bob Dylan." Mr. Staples' voice--light, conversational and easy-going--said more in a softly insinuated line than a choir full of shouting singers, while his lyrics stayed focused on social and spiritual matters, as Mr. Staples reportedly did himself. "When Dr.

King started preaching, Pops said `I think we can sing it.' That's what he felt," said his daughter Yvonne. "He lived the life. He believed that the world could be made a better place for all of us." Born in Montgomery County, Miss., Mr. Staples was educated in a one-room schoolhouse but didn't finish high school until he was an adult. ...show less