CANDID CANDI

The Southern soul, disco and gospel queen tells Ian Shirley about her acclaimed Fame recordings and how real-life pain helped her deliver those heartrending vocals

-  Ian Shirley

I bought a copy of Candi Staton’s first album I’m Just A Prisoner when it was released here in the UK at the end of 1970 or early in 1971. It’s one of my favourite soul albums of all time. I’ve kept it in good nick and was surprised to see that copies of the first pressing are listed in your excellent Rare Record Price Guide at £80. Because of her massive hit Young Hearts Run Free I just assumed that, as she was a major artist, all of Candi’s vinyl would be cheap. Is there an explanation? I also have one of her early UK singles – I’m Just A Prisoner – but as a demo copy that I don’t see listed in the price guide.
Phillip Moore via email
Candi Staton will forever be associated with Young Hearts Run Free, a No 2 hit in the UK in 1976. Staton first made musical waves, however, in the US on Rick Hall’s Fame label in 1969, where singles such as I’d Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than A Young Man’s Fool) and I’m Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin’) hit the R&B charts and lower rungs of the Billboard Hot 100. There was something special going on in Hall’s Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) studio in Muscle Shoals, where artists like Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Etta James had waxed southern soul classics.