As the inimitable voice behind the disco anthems Young Hearts Run Free and You Got The Love, Staton has had a remarkable career that’s endured since the late 60s. Starting out as the ‘First Lady of Southern Soul’, she went on to become one of the defining voices of the disco era before her team-up with The Source provided the house music generation an anthem that continues to inspire the likes of Florence & The Machine today. With another new club anthem, Wild Side with Rasmus Faber & Alf Tumble, released on Defected on 3rd March, we called her up at her Atlanta home to talk about the different seasons in her career, the UK live tour and what she thinks of Florence’s cover of You Got The Love.

Could you tell us a bit about your new album? Your new material seems to be a return to the southern blues & soul that you started with at the beginning of your career…

Yeah, when you talk about the genres that I do, besides gospel, that’s probably the next one on my list. I love to stay with what I like to do so blues & soul is probably one of my favourite genres of music.

So although you’ve worked in lots of different genres, like disco, gospel and dance music, blues & soul is your ‘natural’ genre?

Yeah – everything else I’ve done has kind of come out of that. I can do other types of music, you know that. But we say we’re going to ‘take it home now’, that means we’re gonna get into that soulful area of that song. So that’s pretty much where I live – in that area right there.

There a few songs on your recent album that have come out of working with contemporary artists such as Groove Armada and more country-type artists such as Mark from Lambchop and Bonnie Prince Billy – was that a deliberate choice or did it come about naturally?

It was very natural. I like to do country music and soul it up a little bit, like I did with ‘His Hands’ and ‘Who’s Hurting Now’ for the Honest Jon’s label and EMI in the UK. I also just did another project [with Rasmus Faber & Alf Tumble] from Sweden, a dance song called ‘Wild Side’: “Bring out the wilder side in me tonight…” It’s a real uptempo dance thing – like all the way disco, for the clubs. That’s going to be out on Defected records this month.

You’ve Got the Love has continued to be a huge hit, and has been covered by artists such as Florence and the Machine and Joss Stone. Is it a surprise for you how big it’s continued to be?

Yeah, isn’t that amazing? I think it’s wonderful people like it enough to want to cover it – I’m very proud that I created something people liked. And the words are so great, it makes you feel good when you sing it, it really does – it brings you to another level. I think that’s why people love it so much, because what we’re going through now in terms of our economy and all the other stuff – when that line ‘You’ve got the love I need to see me through…’ comes in we know we’re gonna get through this. It might be hard now but eventually we’re getting through it.

Your career has spanned over 40 years and you’ve been part of all these different genres – are there any periods of your career that you look back on as especially fulfilling?

All in their own way – I look back on it now and the times in my life are seasons: I would say we go through different seasons in life. There was a season that was bleak for me when I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and there was the gospel season when I wanted to take my time and reinvent myself for a while: I had done everything. I’d sung everything, I’d been disappointed, I’d been into drugs, I’d been into alcohol, I’d been to places I shouldn’t have been, with people I should have never been with… and after a while you have to reinvent yourself.

So I took a twenty-year sabbatical from the clubs, from the singing, from everything, and totally went back to church and sung gospel music, which was my stabilising factor. My voice got better – I almost lost my voice when I was doing drugs, then I got better and it came back. Then you get through that season and you say “You know what? I think I’m ready now to do some more secular music and I won’t have to deal with drugs or alcohol or crazy people because I know who I am now”. So that’s when I came back and did the things for Honest Jon’s, and that’s where I am now.

So maybe right now is the best you’ve ever been – you’ve got the freshness back to your voice, you’ve taken the time to do the gospel stuff and you feel you’re at your peak again.

Yeah. And that’s a good feeling – you’re where you’re supposed to be, in the right place. And a lot of people can’t say that – they’re still searching. But when you can put your foot down and say ‘this is me, this is where I am, this is where I’m supposed to be right now’, you really feel good about yourself and that’s a great feeling.

So tell us a bit about the live show? Are there going to be songs from all the different seasons?

Yeah, there are songs from every season. I don’t do gospel per se – I do songs that are very positive songs. I do little gospel at the end of ‘Young Hearts Run Free’. ‘You Got the Love’ was an inspirational gospel song. I’ve also been getting a lot of requests for ‘The Upper Hand’, the Northern Soul hit, that was my first record. A lot of folk on my Facebook have been asking that I do ‘A Heart on a String’, so we’re gonna do lots of old and new new stuff. We’re gonna change the set a lot and give everybody a chance to hear their favourite song.

In London we’ve had a real resurgence of disco in the past couple of years. Have you found among your fan base you’ve had a newer generation joining in?

Absolutely – it’s amazing! Naturally I’m gonna have to do ‘You Got The Love’, ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, ‘Nights On Broadway’ and ‘Suspicious Minds’… They were big hits over there so we’ll always do those in the show. It’s going to be a nice set.

You’ve always had a sizable UK fan base. Is the UK particularly special to you?

Very special, there’s no place like it. I’ve gone a lot of places, a lot of countries but the UK is one of my favourites. The fans are so receptive, they really let you know how they feel. They don’t sit back and just gaze at you – they get into it. They let you know how much they enjoy it and that makes any artist feel great.

Candi Staton brings her full backing band to matter on Saturday 10th April, 6pm-10pm, as part of her UK tour. Tickets are £21.50 from www.matterlondon.com - BUY TICKETS