Mavis Staples

Born in Chicago in 1939, Mavis Staples grew up in the gospel tradition before making her name as part of the family group The Staple Singers, formed around Pops Staples and his children and active from the 1950s. Initially heard in churches and on local radio, the group moved from traditional gospel to a soul and R&B grounded in spirituality, political awareness and the context of the civil rights movement. Mavis Staples’s singing, with its deep, direct timbre, links gospel, Southern soul, socially engaged folk and rhythm and blues without losing its religious roots. Alongside The Staple Singers, she launched a solo career with Mavis Staples in 1969 and Only for the Lonely in 1970, before a new phase marked by Time Waits for No One (1989) and The Voice (1993), both associated with her work with Prince. From the 2000s she maintained a steady trajectory with Have a Little Faith (2004), We’ll Never Turn Back (2007) produced by Ry Cooder, and later You Are Not Alone (2010), One True Vine (2013), Livin’ on a High Note (2016), If All I Was Was Black (2017) and We Get By (2019). She has also collaborated with Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz and Hozier, and for decades has moved between soul, blues, folk and Americana stages.