Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000) was an American gospel and R&B musician.

A "pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s," he was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. He was the patriarch and member of singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.

Life and career

Roebuck Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up 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 covered by The Rolling Stones as "The Last Time") and "Uncloudy Day".