When Mavis Staples was just nine years old, she was already bringing tears to the eyes of her audience and inspiring people to come up and shake her hand.
"At first, when I saw the people crying, I asked my mother—I said, 'Mama, what did I do to those people to make them cry?'" she explained in a 2020 interview with SF Jazz.
"She said, 'Baby, you're singing—they're crying because they love what you're doing. You're makin’ ‘em feel good,'" Mavis continued. "It made me feel happy. And that just let me know this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to sing."
Mavis was born July 10, 1939, in Chicago, into what would become a legendary gospel, soul, and R&B family.
She first gained national attention as the lead vocalist of The Staple Singers, the group formed by her father, the beloved Roebuck “Pops” Staples.
After establishing themselves on the gospel circuit, the group evolved into socially conscious soul music during the Civil Rights era.
At its core was Mavis’s deep, commanding voice, leading hits like “Respect Yourself,” “Let’s Do It Again,” and their 1972 #1 smash, “I’ll Take You There.”
For a funky, gospel-rooted, reggae-influenced anthem of hope to top the mainstream pop chart in '72 was a major accomplishment.
Competing for attention on the radio dial in '72 were the Eagles’ debut single “Take It Easy," Neil Young’s folk-rock anthem “Heart of Gold,” Alice Cooper’s smash hit “School’s Out,” Steely Dan’s jazzy breakthrough “Reelin’ In the Years,” Elton John’s rollicking “Crocodile Rock,” and Led Zeppelin’s brash “Rock and Roll.”
Mavis took her song straight to the top.
In the mid-1970s, Mavis began a solo career, collaborating with artists like Curtis Mayfield and Ry Cooder, which introduced her to new audiences.
Once those listeners heard her raw, no-nonsense vocals—often their first exposure to gospel music—they were hooked, even if it was secretly tucked inside an R&B groove.
Despite occasional pushback from conservative churches, Mavis became a vital bridge between the sacred and the secular, and a leading voice for civil rights through song.
“We got a little flack from the church when we started singing what they called 'worldly music,’” she said in Greg Kot’s biography. “But Pops told them, ‘If this is the devil’s music, the devil’s got some good music!’”
“Some people didn’t want to hear us on the radio singing love songs or funky music. They thought we were turning away from the church. But my daddy always said, ‘The Lord didn’t give us this gift to keep to ourselves,’” she later recalled.
Her collaborations with Prince weren’t just a novelty—he genuinely admired her and respected everything she stood for.
"You are my favorite singer. I’ve listened to your voice since I was a little boy, and I always wanted to work with you," Prince told her, as quoted in Rolling Stone in 2016.
He produced her 1989 album Time Waits for No One and its 1993 follow-up The Voice for his Paisley Park label, blending his discernable production with her classic gospel strength.
“The first time I heard her sing, I felt like I was hearing God’s work,” Prince said in the 2015 documentary Mavis!
“Mavis is a voice from the heart of America,” he told Rolling Stone. “She can make you cry with a whisper or tear the roof off with a shout.”
Another major validation came from Martin Scorsese, director of The Last Waltz (1978), The Band’s iconic farewell concert film.
With an already stacked cast—Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, Emmylou Harris, and Neil Diamond—Scorsese still felt something was missing.
“[The Staple Singers] weren’t able to be at the actual [farewell] concert, and I didn’t want the film to go out into the world without them,” he wrote in the film’s box set liner notes. “So we brought them in and filmed ‘The Weight’ in the studio. It was one of the most powerful things we shot.”
One of her most unlikely collaborations ended up redefining the second half of her career.
In a rare stroke of label brilliance, ANTI- founder Andy Kaulkin suggested that Jeff Tweedy reach out to Mavis—also signed to the label—and see if she’d be interested in working with him as a producer.
“I thought, ‘Why would she want me to do that?’" he told Rolling Stone in 2010. "But when we met, we hit it off right away. She felt like family instantly.”
Speaking of family, Tweedy told NPR that same year, “Mavis said, ‘Pops would like you.’ That was the highest compliment I could get. Once I heard that, I felt I could relax and just try to serve the songs.”
Together they made You Are Not Alone, which took home Best Americana Album in 2011—Mavis’s first competitive Grammy.
The younger Wilco fans ate it up, rightfully. The album (and 2013's One True Vine) were emotional, magical, and soulful. It was something many music fans never realized how badly they needed.
Mavis had performed multiple times at festivals like Newport Folk Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; but after You Are Not Alone, she found herself at SXSW (2010, 2015), Coachella (2011), Bonnaroo (2011), Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (2012, 2015, 2019), Glastonbury Festival (2015), Austin City Limits Festival (2016), and Lollapalooza (2018).
At 86, she's still spreading the word through song.
One fun fact about Mavis's life so far goes back to 1962 when the Staple Singers and Bob Dylan were on a TV show together.
The Bard was so struck by Mavis that he would eventually propose to her. He was so serious he asked Pops for permission, who replied, "you shouldn't ask me, you should ask Mavis." Dylan was 21 at the time, Mavis was 22.
She turned him down saying they were both too young.
When Dylan reached out to her in 2016 to invite her to open for her during his Never Ending Tour, she said, "I've been wanting to see you for so long."
He replied, "if you had married me you would have seen me every day."
You can see Mavis as she travels through North America this month, heads to Europe for a few dates in August, and then comes back to the States for several more shows.
Grab tickets on her website
Mavis Staples 2025 remaining tour dates
Jul 13 – Winnipeg Folk Festival, Winnipeg, MB
Jul 18 – Concert of Colors, Detroit, MI
Jul 20 – Columbus Jazz & Rib Fest, Columbus, OH
Jul 22 – Memorial Hall (Anderson Theater), Cincinnati, OH
Aug 2 – Notodden Blues Festival, Notodden, Norway
Aug 5 – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
Aug 7 – Way Out West, Gothenburg, Sweden
Aug 10 – San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, San Jose, CA
Aug 22 – The Ramkat, Winston-Salem, NC
Aug 23 – Harvester Performance Center, Rocky Mount, VA
Aug 25 – Ocean City Music Pier, Ocean City, NJ
Sep 11 – Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
Sep 13 – Blue Note Summer Sessions, Napa, CA
Oct 4 – Mempho Music Festival (Radians Amphitheater), Memphis, TN
Oct 9 – Fox Theatre, Tucson, AZ
Oct 12 – Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, AZ
