Mavis Staples

One cannot overlook the rich, textured low register that defines the voice of revered figure Mavis Staples. From any 1950s recording made with the Staple Singers to an independent track captured more than fifty years afterward, her sound remains unmistakable and tends to elevate and motivate every listener within range. She rose alongside her relatives in the Staple Singers, a unit steered by her father, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, that fused gospel with secular material in a manner unmatched before or since, simultaneously achieving stardom while earning respect as Civil Rights activists. Through eight Top 40 pop singles by 1975, among them the number-one entries "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," all delivered with Mavis in the lead, the family acquired the designation "God's greatest hitmakers." The 2004 anthology The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955-1984 offers a strong overview of their studio output. Beyond the ensemble, Mavis issued solo albums at irregular intervals from the close of the 1960s into the 1990s. During the 2000s she achieved independent momentum through an energetic sequence of releases, most notably You Are Not Alone, which reached the summit of Billboard’s gospel chart and captured the 2010 Grammy for Best Americana Album. Her momentum persisted across the 2010s: the documentary Mavis! paid tribute to her life, she earned a Grammy in the American Roots category for "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," and she marked her 79th birthday before an enthusiastic international crowd, documented on the 2019 album Live in London. A celebratory 2011 appearance alongside Levon Helm and his band finally surfaced on the 2022 release Carry Me Home. Additional testimony to her stature and wide appeal appears in her inductions into the Rock & Roll, Blues, and Gospel Music halls of fame.

Chicago, Illinois, became her birthplace on July 10, 1939, after parents Roebuck "Pops" and Oceola Staples relocated from Mississippi. She joined the family’s performances as a child, and the Staple Singers made their debut at Chicago’s Mount Zion Church when Mavis reached age ten. By 1953 they had issued their initial self-released single, "These Are They"/"Faith and Grace," on which Mavis and her father traded lead vocals. Later contracts with Vee Jay and Riverside carried the group through the mid-1960s, yielding long-form recordings such as Uncloudy Day, Swing Low (their earliest of five Grammy-nominated projects), and Swing Low Sweet Chariot. The last of these arrived in 1963, the same year the Staples drew fresh purpose from an encounter with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., an event that propelled their participation in the Civil Rights Movement and a focus on message-oriented material. Their artistic range expanded after signing with the major Epic label. In 1967 the group first registered on the Billboard Hot 100 with Roebuck’s composition "Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)" and a reading of Stephen Stills’ "For What It’s Worth."

Although the 1968 single "Crying in the Chapel," drawn from the Staple Singers’ What the World Needs Now Is Love, carried the credit "Mavis Staples with the Staple Singers," she did not issue her initial independent recordings until the following year. Under contract to Stax subsidiary Volt and working with producers Steve Cropper, Al Bell, and Don Davis, she completed Mavis Staples and Only for the Lonely, issued in 1969 and 1970 respectively. Three singles emerged from those sessions; the most successful proved to be "I Have Learned to Do Without You," which climbed to number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart, while a B-side version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s "A House Is Not a Home" from the debut album has since become one of her most cherished performances. Meanwhile the Staple Singers, now signed directly to Stax, attained commercial peak form and, through 1975, topped both pop and R&B charts with "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again." During this stretch they placed six further singles inside the pop Top 40 and performed at the benefit concert Wattstax, later preserved in the corresponding film.

"Let's Do It Again," written and produced by Curtis Mayfield for the Sidney Poitier-directed film of the same name, prompted another Staples-Mayfield-Poitier collaboration with 1977’s A Piece of the Action, issued under Mavis’s name. The Staple Singers again changed labels, this time joining Warner Bros., and during that period they appeared in the Band’s concert film The Last Waltz performing "The Weight," a song they had already recorded the prior decade. Mavis likewise recorded for Warner, releasing the disco-inflected Oh What a Feeling in 1979 under the production of Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett. Group recordings tapered off in the following decade, though a notable charting cover of Talking Heads’ "Slippery People" appeared. After a brief association with Brian and Eddie Holland, Mavis herself placed a charting 1983 single on Phono titled "Love Gone Bad." In 1987 she joined Aretha Franklin for a duet on "Oh Happy Day," which received a gospel Grammy nomination. She next aligned with Prince and his Paisley Park imprint, an association that produced 1989’s Time Waits for No One and 1993’s The Voice. Three years after the latter, she returned with the Verve-issued Spirituals & Gospels: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson, a collaboration with Lucky Peterson honoring one of her foremost influences. The Staple Singers entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999; Roebuck Staples passed the next year.

Mavis’s studio activity gained renewed vigor in the 2000s. She shared a vigorous reading of "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking" with Bob Dylan that earned a 2003 Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. The following year she appeared on Dr. John’s "Lay My Burden Down," another gospel Grammy nominee. She also issued the understated yet forceful Have a Little Faith on Alligator Records. Her first proper album in more than a decade, it was produced with Jim Tullio, featured contributions from John Martyn and the Dixie Hummingbirds, and included a jubilant tribute to her father; the set reached number five on Billboard’s blues chart.

A subsequent arrangement with Anti- yielded numerous warmly received studio and concert albums that fluidly blended soul, gospel, and folk elements. Although crafted with producers drawn from varied roots traditions, the projects remained unmistakably her own statements. We’ll Never Turn Back, created with Ry Cooder, revisited themes from the Civil Rights Movement and adapted them for 2007; it reached number two on the gospel chart. The next two releases, 2010’s You Are Not Alone and 2013’s One True Vine, united her with Jeff Tweedy and incorporated songs by Allen Toussaint, George Clinton, Randy Newman, Tweedy, and her father. The former topped the gospel chart and secured her first Grammy victory in the Best Americana Album category, while the latter also peaked at number two on the gospel tally. In 2014 her 75th birthday was marked by a hometown concert featuring Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Aaron Neville, and Taj Mahal; the event was recorded and filmed for eventual release as I’ll Take You There: An All-Star Concert Celebration.

Her visibility rose further in 2015 with the Peabody Award-winning documentary Mavis!, which surveyed more than six decades in music. Shortly after its premiere an interim EP titled Your Good Fortune surfaced and drew strong attention. Produced by Son Little, its interpretation of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" captured that year’s Grammy for Best American Roots Performance. She then collaborated with M. Ward on 2016’s Livin’ on a High Note, a number-two blues album featuring buoyant, newly composed material from Ben Harper, Valerie June, and Benjamin Booker. She reunited with Tweedy, who produced and wrote or co-wrote every track on the optimistic 2017 album If All I Was Was Black. Two live sets from the era offered fresh perspectives on her catalog: Live: Hope at the Hideout, recorded in Chicago, received a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album, while Live in London, captured across two 2018 nights including her 79th birthday, showcased an entirely new selection of material that reflected the expanding scope of her repertoire. Around this time she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Staple Singers entered the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. We Get By, recorded with Harper, followed the London set by only three months in 2019. She also maintained frequent guest appearances, contributing to recordings by Norah Jones (2020’s Pick Me Up Off the Floor), Sheryl Crow (2019’s Threads), Jon Batiste (2021’s We Are), and Run the Jewels (2020’s RTJ4). The archival live recording Carry Me Home, issued in 2022, captured a 2011 performance with Levon Helm and his band at his studio and venue in Woodstock, New York.