My Fantasy Band: Candi Staton

'I have one of the greatest guitar players playing with me right now, Mark Vandergucht'

Vocals - Seal He has a great song out right now that I love. His last album, 'Soul', was just absolutely fantastic, he did a blues album and it was just great. I fell in love with a song on the album called "I Can't Stand the Rain". I love the way he performed that. I'd really like to have my friend Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight sing too. They are gorgeous singers. But I'm not sure how they would feel about being on backing vocals, they wouldn't like that!

Guitar - Mark Vandergucht I have one of the greatest guitar players playing with me right now, Mark Vandergucht. I love his playing, he plays behind me in my band, he can do some things on the guitar that actually some of the greatest guitar players couldn't do. He's a really wonderful guy, too.

Keyboards - Barry Beckett He was a session musician who played with everyone from Paul Simon to Aretha Franklin. He played on every song that I've ever done. He was a great keyboard player and producer. He passed away last year sadly. He played organ on the first record I did for EMI. That was one of the last major records that he played on before he passed away.

Bass - Larry Graham He played with Sly & the Family Stone. He was so good, he could probably catch an audience all by himself. I've known him for many, many years and he's a great guy. He got real famous with Sly.

Drums - Marcus Williams Marcus is my son and he's one of my favourite drummers – of course he should be! He's played with Isaac Hayes, he's played with me on every record for the last four years. He's a well-rounded drummer. Right now, he's playing for Tyler Perry who is huge over here in the States. He's an actor and film and musical director. He takes his shows on the road and Marcus has gone with him.

Candi Staton plays Cornbury Festival in Oxfordshire, which takes place tomorrow and Sunday. Cornburyfestival.com