{"id":2107,"date":"2015-03-04T15:04:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T21:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=2107"},"modified":"2015-06-10T15:04:37","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T20:04:37","slug":"chicago-artist-mavis-staples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=2107","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Artist : Mavis Staples"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mavis Staples<\/b>\u00a0(born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American\u00a0rhythm and blues<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0gospel<\/a>\u00a0singer, actress and\u00a0civil rights<\/a>\u00a0activist<\/a>\u00a0who recorded with\u00a0The Staple Singers<\/a>, her family’s band.<\/p>\n

Mavis Staples began her career with her\u00a0family group<\/a>\u00a0in 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\u00a0Vee-Jay<\/a>\u00a0label. When Mavis graduated from what is now\u00a0Paul Robeson High School<\/a>\u00a0in 1957,\u00a0The Staple Singers<\/a>\u00a0took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch\u00a0Roebuck “Pops” Staples<\/a>\u00a0on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Purvis, the Staples were called “God’s Greatest Hitmakers.”<\/p>\n

With Mavis’ voice and Pops’ songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on\u00a0United<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Riverside<\/a>\u00a0as 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 withMartin Luther King, Jr.<\/a>, became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including\u00a0Bob Dylan<\/a>‘s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall<\/a>” and a version of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

During a December 20, 2008 appearance on\u00a0National Public Radio’s<\/a>\u00a0news show\u00a0“Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me,”<\/a>\u00a0when 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.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Stax Records<\/a>\u00a0in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of\u00a0Booker T. and the MGs<\/a>. 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?”<\/p>\n

Staples made her first solo foray while at\u00a0Epic Records<\/a>\u00a0with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single “Crying in the Chapel” to little fanfare in the late 1960s.[2]<\/a><\/sup>The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection\u00a0Lost Soul<\/i>. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release,\u00a0Only for the Lonely<\/i>, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album,\u00a0A Piece of the Action<\/i>, on\u00a0Curtis Mayfield<\/a>‘s Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star\u00a0Prince<\/a>; 1989’s\u00a0Time Waits for No One,<\/i>\u00a0followed by 1993’s\u00a0The Voice<\/i>, which\u00a0People<\/a><\/i>magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release,\u00a0Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson<\/i>\u00a0was recorded with keyboardistLucky Peterson<\/a>. The recording honours\u00a0Mahalia Jackson<\/a>, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples’ life.<\/p>\n

Staples made a major national return with the release of the album\u00a0Have a Little Faith<\/a><\/i>\u00a0on Chicago’s\u00a0Alligator Records<\/a>, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.<\/p>\n

In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz\/rock guitarist,\u00a0John Scofield<\/a>. The album entitled,\u00a0That’s What I Say<\/i>, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer\u00a0Steve Hass<\/a>, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez. A new album forAnti- Records<\/a>\u00a0entitled\u00a0We’ll Never Turn Back<\/a><\/i>\u00a0was released on April 24, 2007. The\u00a0Ry Cooder<\/a>-producedconcept album<\/a>\u00a0focuses on\u00a0Gospel<\/a>\u00a0songs of the\u00a0civil rights movement<\/a>\u00a0and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including\u00a0Salt ‘N’ Pepa<\/a>,\u00a0Ice Cube<\/a>and\u00a0Ludacris<\/a>. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend,\u00a0Bob Dylan<\/a>\u00a0(with whom she was nominated for a 2003\u00a0Grammy Award<\/a>\u00a0in the “Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals” category for their duet on “Gotta Change My Way of Thinking” from the album\u00a0Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan<\/a><\/i>) to\u00a0The Band<\/a>,\u00a0Ray Charles<\/a>,\u00a0Nona Hendryx<\/a>,\u00a0George Jones<\/a>,\u00a0Natalie Merchant<\/a>,\u00a0Ann Peebles<\/a>, and\u00a0Delbert McClinton<\/a>. She has provided vocals on current albums by\u00a0Los Lobos<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dr. John<\/a>, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as\u00a0Johnny Paycheck<\/a>,\u00a0Stephen Foster<\/a>\u00a0and Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n

In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the\u00a0Orpheum Theater<\/a>\u00a0alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during “Soul Comes Home,” a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the\u00a0Stax Museum of American Soul Music<\/a>\u00a0at 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?<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup>\u00a0with 225 of the academy’s students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.<\/p>\n

Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual\u00a0Independent Music Awards<\/a>\u00a0to support independent artists.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with\u00a0Patty Griffin<\/a>\u00a0and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song \u201cWaiting For My Child To Come Home\u201d on the compilation album\u00a0Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration<\/a>.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

On October 30, 2010, Staples performed at the\u00a0Rally to Restore Sanity and\/or Fear<\/a>\u00a0alongside singer\u00a0Jeff Tweedy<\/a>. In 2011 she was joined on-stage at the Outside Lands Music And Arts Festival by\u00a0Arcade Fire<\/a>\u00a0singer Win Butler. The two performed a version of “The Weight” by the Band.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Staples also performed at the 33rd\u00a0Kennedy Center Honors<\/a>, singing in a tribute to\u00a0Paul McCartney<\/a>, an honoree.<\/p>\n

On February 13, 2011, Mavis Staples won her first Grammy award in the category for\u00a0Best Americana Album<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0You Are Not Alone<\/a><\/i>. In her acceptance speech, a shocked and crying Staples said “This has been a long time coming.”[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

On May 7, 2011, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate from\u00a0Berklee College of Music<\/a>\u00a0inBoston, Massachusetts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On May 6, 2012, Mavis was awarded an honorary doctorate, and performed “I’ll Take You There” with current and graduating students at\u00a0Columbia College Chicago<\/a>‘s 2012 Commencement Exercise in Chicago, Illinois at the historic\u00a0Chicago Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mavis headlined on June 10, 2012 at Chicago’s Annual Blues Festival in\u00a0Grant Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(source wikipedia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mavis Staples\u00a0(born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American\u00a0rhythm and blues\u00a0and\u00a0gospel\u00a0singer, actress and\u00a0civil rights\u00a0activist\u00a0who recorded with\u00a0The Staple Singers, her family’s band. Mavis Staples began her career with her\u00a0family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-loop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}