Roebuck Staples was born near
Winona, Mississippi, the youngest of 14 children. He grew up on a cotton plantation near
Drew, Mississippi. From his earliest years he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as
Charlie Patton (who lived on the nearby
Dockery Plantation),
Robert Johnson, and
Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, then sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935. There, he sang with the Trumpet Jubilees while working in the stockyards, in construction work, and later in a steel mill. In 1948, Roebuck and his wife Oceola Staples formed The Staple Singers to sing as a gospel group in local churches, with their children. The Staple Singers first recorded in the early 1950s for
United and then the larger
Vee-Jay Records, with songs including 1955's "This May Be the Last Time" (later adapted by
The Rolling Stones as "
The Last Time") and "
Uncloudy Day". He appeared as himself in the 1997
Barry Levinson film
Wag the Dog, singing "Good Old Shoe" with
Willie Nelson. He died after suffering an ultimately fatal concussion in a fall at his home, just nine days shy of his 86th birthday. After his death, his daughters Yvonne and Mavis gave one of his guitars to country and gospel musician
Marty Stuart. ==Influence==