Staples, Mavis,
1939- , African American popular singer, b. Chicago, Il. Staples began
performing at age 11 with her father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples
(1914-2000), and her siblings on local radio and for church groups. The
group enjoyed their first success in 1956 with the record “Uncloudy
Day,” and a year later, after Mavis graduated from high school, began
traveling to perform for churches and at nightclubs under the name of the
Staples Singers. Mavis sang lead in the group, while her sisters Cleotha
(1934-2013) and Yvonne (1937-2018) and brother Pervis (1935-2021) sang
harmonies, and their father played guitar and sang bass. In the early
‘60s, Pops befriended civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and the group began recording
several “message” songs, including “Long Walk to
D.C.” (1968) and “When Will We Be Paid?” (1971). The
group also enjoyed major pop hits through 1975, most notably the #1 pop
single, “I’ll Take You There” (1972). In 1969, Mavis
began recording solo albums alongside her work with the family group, but
struggled to establish herself on the charts, despite making an album,
Time Waits for No One (1989) that was produced by
Prince. Staples
enjoyed a major breakthrough in the first decade of the 21st century,
beginning with the album We’ll Never Turn Back
(2007). The Staples Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1999 and were honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in
2004; Mavis has won numerous Grammys for her solo work, honorary doctorates
from the Berklee College of Music in 2011 and Columbia College (Chicago) in
2012, and was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2016 and inducted
into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.
See G. Kot, I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and
the March up Freedom's
Highway(2014);Mavis! (2015, doc.
film).
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