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Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.
BiographyMavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from high school in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleo, Yvonne, and Pervis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."
With Mavis' voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops' close friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth."
During a December 20, 2008 appearance on National Public Radio's news show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me," when Staples was asked about her past personal relationship with Dylan, she admitted they "were good friends, yes indeed" and that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage.
The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people
. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," and a No. 2 single "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?"
Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960s.[title=Mavis Staples: From Stax, to Prince, to an acclaimed Civil Rights album] The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.
National Heritage Fellows concert.
Staples made a major national return with the release of the album
Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.
In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, ''That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez.
A new album for Anti- Records entitled ''We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.
Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.
In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews,Who
Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.
On Sunday, August 10, the final day of the 2008 Kitchener Blues Festival, backed by her band (Rick Holmstrom on guitar, Jeff Turmes on bass, Stephen Hodges on drums) and her sister Yvonne Staples, Donny Gerrard and Chavonne Morris providing background vocals and harmonies, Mavis Staples came on stage in the middle of a torrential downpour. With the strength of her voice and the power of her message, she brought the very wet but even more enthusiastic crowd to their feet.POV-statement
On March 20, 2009, Mavis Staples returned to southwestern Ontario for shows at the Gig Theatre in Kitchener and Massey Hall in Toronto. The Friday evening performance was to be opened by her friend, Mel Brown, but sadly, Brown had died just hours earlier after a prolonged illness. Everyone's spirit was dampened by the news, but the show went on as Mel would have wanted, opening with his band "The Homewreckers", fronted by guitar genius and Brown protege, Shawn Kellerman.POV-statement
In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.
Film and televisionDuring her career Staples has appeared in many films and television shows, including The Last Waltz, Graffiti Bridge, Wattstax, New York Undercover, Soul Train, Soul to Soul and The Cosby Show.
DiscographyAlbums- Mavis Staples (Volt, 1969)
- Only for the Lonely (Stax, 1970)
- A Piece of the Action (Curtom, 1977)
- Oh What a Feeling (Warner, 1979)
- Mavis Staples (HDH, 1984)
- ''Don't Change Me Now'' (Volt/Ace, 1988)
- Time Waits for No One (Paisley Park, 1989)
- The Voice (Paisley Park, 1993)
- Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson with Lucky Peterson (Verve, 1996)
- Have a Little Faith (Alligator, 2004)
- ''We'll Never Turn Back (Anti-, 2007) produced by Ry Cooder
- Live: Hope at the Hideout (Anti-, 2008)
Singles- "Crying in the Chapel" b/w "Nothing Lasts Forever" (Epic)
- "I Have Learned to Do Without You" b/w "Since I Fell For You"
- "Endlessly" b/w "Don't Change Me Now" (Volt)
- "A House Is Not a Home" (Volt)
- "A Piece of the Action" b/w "Til Blossoms Bloom" (Curtom)
- The Weight on the The Last Waltz (1976)
- "Oh What a Feeling" (Warner Bros., 1979)
- "Tonight I Feel Like Dancing" (Warner Bros., 1979)
- "Love Gone Bad" (1984)
- "Show Me How It Works" (from Wildcats) (Warner Bros., 1986)
- "20th Century Express" b/w "All The Discomforts Of Home" (Paisley Park, 1989)
- "Time Waits for No One" (Paisley Park, 1989)
- "Jaguar" (Paisley Park, 1989)
- "Melody Cool" (Paisley Park, 1991)
- "The Voice" (Paisley Park, 1993)
- "Blood Is Thicker Than Time" (Paisley Park, 1993)
Other- "Christmas Vacation" (Theme song from ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) (1989)
- "Waiting For My Child To Come Home" with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers, on Oh Happy Day (2009)
Copyright Citations
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