Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (/ˈsteɪtən/, STAY-tən) (born March 13, 1940)[1][4][5][6][2] is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper "Young Hearts Run Free".

Amazed by her voice, the pastor paired Staton and her sister with a third girl, Naomi Harrison, and they formed the Jewell Gospel Trio.

[citation needed] In 1968, Staton was introduced to Rick Hall by Clarence Carter and launched her solo career as a Southern soul stylist,[8] garnering 16 R&B hits for Rick Hall's FAME Studios and gaining the title of "First Lady of Southern Soul" for her Grammy-nominated R&B renditions of the songs "Stand by Your Man" and "In the Ghetto".

In 1976, Staton began collaborating with producer David Crawford on disco songs such as "Young Hearts Run Free", which reached No.

In 2004, the British record label Honest Jon's released a compilation album of her soul work from the late 1960s and early 1970s, the self-titled Candi Staton.

Staton followed it up with a secular project in 2006 entitled His Hands, produced by Mark Nevers of Lambchop and with the title track written by Will Oldham.

The lead Americana radio single, "I Ain't Easy to Love", featured Jason Isbell and John Paul White (formerly of The Civil Wars).

NPR music journalist, Alison Fensterstock, wrote that it, "Delivers the kind of forthright confidence and soul-girding power that can only be summoned by a grown woman who has learned a thing or two.

Creatively, the quadruple Grammy nominee and Christian Music Hall of Famer has moved between soul and R&B, gospel, disco and even EDM before returning to her roots as an elder stateswoman.

Two years after divorcing James, Staton married John Sussewell, who was a drummer for Ashford & Simpson and also on Dory Previn's sixth album We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx in 1980.