NOTEWORTHY DEATH

CHICAGO — Eldest of The Staple Singers siblings

In a family of vocalists, it was Cleotha Staples’ smooth and velvety voice that helped set apart the sound of the influential and best-selling gospel group The Staple Singers.

Staples, the eldest sister and member of the group her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples started in the 1940s, died Thursday at age 78. She was at her Chicago home and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the past decade, said family friend and music publicist Bill Carpenter.

The group also included sisters Pervis, Yvonne, Mavis and Cynthia.

Mavis Staples credited her father’s guitar and Cleotha’s voice with creating the group’s distinctive sound.

“A lot of singers would try tosing like her,” Mavis Staples said in a statement. “Her voice would just ring in your ear. It wasn’t harsh or hitting you hard, it was soothing. She gave us that country sound.”

Staples, known as “Cleedi,” was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her family in 1999 and received a lifetimeachievement award from the Grammys in 2005. The Staple Singers gained a huge audience with their first No. 1 hit “I’ll Take You There” in 1972 and followed with top 40 hits “Respect Yourself,” “Heavy Makes You Happy,” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

Cleotha Staples was born April 11, 1934, in Drew, Miss., the first child of Pops and his wife, Oceola. Two years later, the family moved to Chicago, where the family’s four other children were born.