Introduction

Biography

Christopher was the son of Will­iam Man­ual Staff­ord and Su­san Le­o­na Ro­ber­son, and hus­band of Myr­tle Fran­ces Ar­nold.

He grew up on the fa­mi­ly farm, and at­tend­ed the pub­lic schools in near­by On­e­on­ta, Ala­ba­ma.

His first mu­sic teach­er was his sis­ter-in-law, Fan­nie Staf­ford. By the time he gra­du­at­ed from high school, he had stu­died mu­sic un­der a number of lead­ing teach­ers, and had com­posed ma­ny Gos­pel songs and church choir cho­rus­es.

Stafford at­tend­ed North Tex­as State Uni­ver­si­ty (BS), and had ad­vanced stu­dies at Texas Chris­tian Uni­ver­si­ty, Phil­lips Uni­ver­si­ty and George Pea­bo­dy Col­lege.

Stafford pub­lished ov­er 3,000 songs in his life­time.

Works

• Harmony and Har­mo­ni­cal Ac­ti­vi­ty (Stamps Quar­tet Mu­sic, 1948)
• The King­dom of Love, a can­ta­ta