Mavis Staples   -  Biography

Born in Chicago in 1939, Mavis Staples began her career with her family group, the Staple Singers, in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a gigantic hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. Upon her high school graduation in 1957, the Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples and including Mavis and siblings Cleo, Yvonne and Pervis, the Staples were often referred to as "God's Greatest Hitmakers."

By the mid-1960s, the Staple Singers, inspired by their close friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. According to Pops, "If Dr. King could preach it, we can sing it." They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including many Bob Dylan songs and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth." The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to an enormous number of young people.

The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining together their gospel harmonies and deep faith with members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They 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." Moving away from their early roots as a pure gospel group, the Staple Singers were bona fide pop stars.

Mavis Staples recorded her first solo album, which was self-titled, for Stax in 1969. After another Stax release in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label in 1977. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of Prince: 1989's Time Waits for No One and 1993's The Voice.

Marty Stuart invited them to sing with him on the 1994 all-star album Rhythm Country & Blues. Staples' own Spirituals & Gospel: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson, from 1996, is a moving song cycle honoring Jackson, a very close family friend.

Pops Staples died in December 2000, and Mavis and her siblings temporarily stepped out of the spotlight. However, she scored a 2003 Grammy nomination for her duet with Dylan, "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking." She returned with the upbeat solo album Have a Little Faith on Alligator Records in 2004. That same year, she joined Los Lobos on their album The Ride and appeared on tribute albums to Stephen Foster (singing "Hard Times Come Again No More") and Johnny Paycheck (on the title track, "Touch My Heart").