In a career that began 75 years ago, pre-dating even Alan Freed’s adoption of the phrase ‘rock’n’roll’, Mavis Staples must have thought she’d seen just about everything; one of the most recognisable voices of the United States’ struggle for civil rights, she continued singing on the side of the righteous as the search for equality dragged on. Now 86, she should be taking it easy, assured her wars have been won. Yet, here we are in 2025, and the last member standing of The Staple Singers is dusting off her old friend Curtis Mayfield’s ‘We Got to Have Peace’, her work incomplete as long as the world continues to promote leaders too dumb to understand the message.
Staples’ solo career took a while to get going: two albums for Volt while the family group…