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Mavis Staples Praises Parental Influence in Life
CHICAGO, IL (September 16, 2005) - Strong parental involvement was the primary
reason legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples has been able to live a
life of significance, she told an audience last Friday night at North
Park University.
Staples enchanted and inspired the gathering who heard the singer
recount her life story and sing several songs in the Anderson Chapel.
For most of the evening, she was interviewed by Terri Hemmert, a
long-time Chicago disc jockey.
Mavis was part of the legendary Staples Singers, who had hits that
included "Uncloudy Day," "I'll Take You There," and "Let's Do it Again."
This year, she was awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.
Roebucks "Pops" Staples would inspire his daughters to achieve their
best while being there for them emotionally and spiritually, she
recalled. "He would take us to the park on Saturday and then he would
take us to church on Sunday." Throughout the night, the discussion was
as much about him - because his influence became such a part of her,
whether it was singing in church, taking the group's music beyond the
church walls or becoming deeply involved in the civil rights movement.
Pops gathered Mavis and her sisters together and taught them to sing as
a group while they were yet young children. The family soon was playing
in churches across the South.
In 1963, her life would change forever, not when the family was singing
in church, but when they visited Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to hear
the preacher Martin Luther King Jr.
Pops and King mutually admired one another, although they had never met
until that day in the doorway of the church as the congregation left the
service. The two men talked a long time and afterward the father told
the children back at the hotel, "Listen you all, I really like this
man's message. And I think if he can preach that, we can sing it."
Mavis and the family would sing it in Selma, they would sing it in
Montgomery and they would sing it in Washington D.C. Along the way, they
would sing "Why Am I Treated So Bad," which Pops wrote after watching
nine African-American girls face the wrath of crowds as they attended
what had been a whites-only school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The song became King's favorite, and the civil rights leader asked them
to sing it every night as they traveled together.
Mavis also praised her mother who she said was caring, a great cook, a
shrewd businesswoman and able to combine them. Mavis' mother was widely
known for her sweet potato pie - people such as Ray Charles would plead
for it when dining at the Staples house. Mother used her skills to make
sure the records of the Staples Singers would get played because she
would bring pie to the disc jockeys if they played the music, Mavis
said. Her actions prompted one friend to say that she was guilty of
"pie-ola" as opposed to payola - the illegal practice of paying disc
jockeys to play a performer's music.
Ray Charles was not the only musician to come around the Staples house,
but others, including Nancy Wilson and Mahalia Jackson (Mavis' idol)
would spend time with the family. Mavis says her experiences have helped
her keep a smile even in the most difficult of times, noting it is
important to remember to love even a person's enemies. She has sung with
numerous people including a recent duet with Bob Dylan on his recently
re-recorded Gonna Change My Way of Thinking.
Mavis sang several songs through the evening, including "Precious Lord,"
after recounting that the song was part of the most cherished part of
her career, when Jackson called her on stage in 1959 to sing with her.
Mavis said she was nervous - not simply to be singing with her idol -
but because she didn't know what the song was going to be. She was
relieved when Jackson picked one Mavis knew.
Mavis ended the evening with a rousing rendition of "I'll Take You
There," involving the audience, which gave her a standing ovation.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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