For eight decades, Mavis Staples has been taking us there. To a place of hope and perseverance, that place of faith and freedom that has defined her life’s journey.
Every time Mavis sings “Respect Yourself” and “We Get By” from deep within her soul, she takes us to the South Side churches where she began making believers at the age of 8, to the time she joined the family Staple Singers gospel group at 11, to marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and becoming a civil rights icon in her 20s, to finding an equally incredible solo career in her 30s, to becoming a Kennedy Center honoree, Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner, Blues and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and go-to collaborator in her second act.
And on Dec. 6, Staples takes us back to where it all began, as she celebrates her 85th birthday in her hometown with a special all-star show at the Auditorium Theatre, also featuring Jackson Browne and Margo Price. (It’s her second birthday gathering this year, after a similar fete was held in Los Angeles in April with Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Black Pumas and the War and Treaty, among others.)
“I’m so happy to be home and to be able to have this big birthday show in Chicago. Chicago is home and always will be,” Staples shared in a recent e-mail interview with the Sun-Times regarding the celebration, which takes place on the same stage where she and Jeff Tweedy performed “Freedom Highway” in August during the DNC for a special taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“The city has been such a big influence on me on both a personal and a professional level,” Staples added. “I’m looking forward to seeing so many of my friends and family at this show.”
One of those friends is WXRT DJ Terri Hemmert. The radio station is sponsoring the Chicago event, continuing a deeply rooted partnership with Staples.
“The original group of DJs came of age during the Civil Rights Movement. We have always played music that taps into that period and the music that is released in the 21st century that reflects our concern for equal rights,” Hemmert explained in a separate interview, adding that her friendship with Staples goes back nearly 25 years, after the two met at Fitzgeralds during a screening of the WTTW documentary “The Staple Singers and the Civil Rights Movement,” written and co-produced by former Sun-Times writer Dave Hoekstra.
“We’ve played Mavis and her family for over 50 years,” Hemmert added, “and her new single, ‘Worthy,’ sounds as current as anything else released this year.”
‘Music is such a powerful force and has made such a difference in the world.’ — Mavis Staples
To Hemmert’s point, there is a timelessness to Staples that makes her newest contributions — like the Prince-inspired soul stirrer “Worthy” — find a home in modern music, as her full body of work continues to transcend and transform multiple generations. It’s a legacy she takes quite seriously, continuing the mission of the Staple Singers as its sole remaining member after her beloved father Pops and siblings Yvonne, Cleotha and Pervis passed on.
Earlier this year, Staples visited the University of Chicago to speak to area high school students, an event where she was honored with Rosenberger Distinguished Visiting Artist Award (adding to a list of honorary doctorates from Columbia College and Berklee). And on July 9 (the day before her actual birthday), Staples released her first children’s book, “Bridges Instead of Walls” that shares her life story in illustrations. She was also the inspiration behind the inaugural Mavis Staples Freedom Highway Essay Award this year, sponsored by the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, meant to “encourage younger generations to harness the power of music in their scholastic endeavors.”
“Music is such a powerful force and has made such a difference in the world,” Staples shared in her email, humbled by the essay program in her name. “As you know, we still have a lot of work to do. And music can be a big part of that positive change in the world.”
It’s part of the reason why Staples re-thought her retirement plans. After performing for more than 70 years, and facing an injury while on the road, Staples nearly called it a day in 2023. But, she said, “After I was home for a little while, I just started to realize how much I love to sing. And how much I would miss it if I stopped. Singing isn’t work for me, it’s what I love to do and what I’ve always done. So it just didn’t make sense to stop. … I don’t ever want to stop singing.”
Her recent works with younger artists like Hozier, Jon Batiste and Ben Harper (much like she did with Bob Dylan and The Band decades ago) have also helped to invigorate Staples well into her 80s.
“I love hearing what these kids are up to these days. I’m just so honored and blessed to be able to sing with so many different artists. Their songwriting, their voices, their messages and their spirits are just so inspiring to me,” she shared, offering a recent example. “I went and sang with Maggie Rogers at the United Center [in October], and it was just incredible to see all these young kids in the audience screaming and singing along. … After all these years, I’m still amazed that these kids want to sing with me! It’s really a blessing.”
The blessing goes both ways, according to Margo Price. The Nashville singer-songwriter is not only part of Staples’ birthday show this week but previously called on Staples to contribute vocals to the 2022 song “Fight To Make It.”
“If you listen deeply enough, you can learn how to live your life in her albums,” Price shared in a recent interview with the Sun-Times. “These themes echo through her life’s work: freedom, equality, joy, compassion, heartache, spirituality, truth and love — it radiates from her vocal cords and throughout the lyrics of the songs she sings. … She is one of my musical heroes and a cultural icon who doesn’t get enough credit for all of the positive change she has made both as an artist and as a civil rights activist. I plan on bringing her a big bouquet of roses because I think she deserves to get her flowers now.”
Run the Jewels is another act Staples worked with in recent years on the 2020 song “Pulling the Pin,” and though they aren’t performing at her birthday show, rapper El-P shared with the Sun-Times the influence Staples has had on him.
“It was an easy leap to go from having huge respect for her to being in awe of her. Meeting her and spending a day working with her left me feeling like I had done something important, not only in music but in my life, like I had made it,” he said.
“I had been there to be a part of something deeply musical, which is all I ever wanted. The depth of pain and experience and beauty she brought to my words couldn’t have been matched by me or anyone else. It had to be her singing it. With her it felt like she brought along that force of a fight that had started way before [Killer] Mike and I. It felt like her presence on the song connected us to a truth and beauty about struggle that we needed to be connected to. It was an honor, point blank.”
It’s reasons like these that Hemmert said, “I hope [Mavis] lives to 100. Whatever it is she does, it’s always a better world when she’s in it.”
As long as Staples believes there’s still work to be done, she will keep singing. Looking forward, there’s still one goal she wants to accomplish.
“I’m looking forward to when I get to perform at the White House for the first female President,” she shared.