Staples released her 14th solo album in 2025 at age 85.
Mavis Staples began singing with her family in churches when she was 8 years old. At almost 87, she is still out there singing. After several hit gospel albums in the 1950s, the Staple Singers became the voice of the Civil Rights movement in the1960s. Mavis marched with MLK, performed at JFK’s inauguration, sang in Obama’s White House, and has collaborated with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Arcade Fire. She’s won multiple Grammys plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, was a 2016 Kennedy Center honoree, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
In 2014, I rolled into a Mavis Staple concert at Pepperdine knowing next to nothing about her and was soon mesmerized. I was amazed by her voice, her sense of joy, and her stories of the battles she had fought and the paths she had blazed. Her faith and hope shone through every song she sang and every word she spoke.
At almost 87, Mavis is the only surviving member of her family. But still she sings. In a 2024 New York Times story, Mavis said, “My voice is my gift from God. “If I don’t use it, I’m abusing my gift.”
She released her fourteenth solo album, A Sad and Beautiful World, in November 2025. The album was praised by critics, made many year-end “best” lists and two of the songs, “Beautiful Strangers” and “Godspeed,” received awards at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
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