Mavis Staples

Concert Details

Now 86, Mavis Staples has been performing since she was 8 years old. She started out more than 70 years ago in the Staple Singers with her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples, sisters Cleotha and Yvonne, and brother Pervis; she is the lone surviving member of the group, still carrying her family’s gifts and knowledge with her as a living heritage.

As an inductee into the Blues, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honoree, and a winner of multiple Grammys (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), Staples is a pillar of musical history. She has collaborated with nearly every major figure of her era, including Bob Dylan, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, and countless stars from subsequent generations.

Sad and Beautiful World is the latest solo album from this national treasure and multigenerational talent. The record spans seven decades of the American Songbook—a range nearly as vast as Staples’s career—and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music.