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.
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