Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 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 Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from what is now Paul Robeson High School in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck Pops Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne, and Purvis, the Staples were called Gods Greatest Hitmakers. With Mavis voice and Pops songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as 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 with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylans A Hard Rains a-Gonna Fall and a version of Stephen Stills For What Its Worth. During a December 20, 2008 appearance on National Public Radios news show Wait Wait...Dont Tell Me, when 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.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 20:23:41 +0000
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