Contributed
In April 2018, Mavis Staples received the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s Everyday Freedom Hero award in a ceremony at Memorial Hall before her performance as part of the Longworth-Anderson Series.
Seven years later, one of the legendary figures of American music is back on the road, celebrating her 86th birthday on July 10. Staples returns to Memorial Hall on July 22 to perform her award-winning catalog that now includes her cover of “Godspeed,” a Frank Ocean song that perfectly describes her life of sharing love and compassion.
According to a New York Times story last year, she had considered retirement. She had played more than 50 shows in 2023 to make up for the time she was forced to stay home in Chicago during the pandemic. But she fell on a moving walkway in Germany, and was worried about her mobility.
However, that concern took a back seat to returning to the only life she has known for more than 75 years. The recording sessions that produced “Godspeed” convinced her she wasn’t finished, there was more work to do. There might be a new album, her first since 2019’s “We Get By,” to come, but there are shows to play and that’s the inspiration to keep her going.
“My voice is my gift from God,” she told the Times. “If I don’t use it, I’m abusing my gift.”
Staples joined the family’s Staple Singers group in 1950. Led by her father, Roebuck (Pops), it included her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Pervis, all of whom have passed away. She released her self-titled solo album in 1969, the first of 13 studio recordings. She also collaborated with fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy of Wilco on four records from 2010-17.
She has won four Grammy Awards and been nominated for almost a dozen others. The Staple
Singers were awarded a Lifetime Grammy in 2005. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and Staples was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2013. Rolling Stone magazine named her No. 46 on the 200 Greatest Singers of All-Time list in 2023.
Although the roll call of awards is impressive, the respect she has earned from her peers and fans speaks for itself. The Staple singers appeared in The Band’s 1976 documentary, “The Last Waltz,” which was an introduction to a predominantly white audience that might not have been familiar with the family’s mix of gospel, soul and R&B in spite of their biggest hit, “I’ll Take You There,” a radio staple when it was released in the early 1970s.
Staples has collaborated with dozens of artists from contemporaries Aretha Franklin, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan (a rumored romantic partner in the 1960s) to younger artists that include Prince, Arcade Fire and Patty Griffin.
The Longworth-Anderson Series presents Mavis Staples in Memorial Hall at 8 p.m. July 22. The pre-concert reception, which begins at 6:30 p.m., features light bites from Ollie’s Trolley and N.Y.P.D. Pizza with craft beer tastings from HighGrain Brewing Co. Chaya Jones will perform for ticketholders. Bartlett Wealth Management is the concert sponsor and the Bailey Lamson Family Foundation is the pre-concert sponsor.