I’ll sing until I can’t sing anymore,” declares Mavis Staples in the HBO documentary Mavis!, which premieres Feb. 29. Blessed with a soul-stirring voice that deserves classification as a national treasure, Staples, 76, is prefacing the film’s debut with the Feb. 19 release of her latest album, the joyous Life on a High Note, on Anti- Records. Reflecting on her storied six decades as an artist and activist — her legendary family band The Staple Singers frequently performed at civil rights rallies — the Grammy winner imparts a few lessons that have stuck.
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Find Your Own Voice
“I loved Mahalia Jackson growing up. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I would look in the mirror and try to sing just like her. [Her father] Pops told me, ‘Mavis, don’t sing like anybody else. If you sound like sister Mahalia Jackson, that’s who people are going to be talking about. They’re not going to be talking about Mavis.’ So I learned that when I was a kid: Make the song belong to you. Then you’ve got a song.”
Age Is Just A Number
“The songwriters on this new album [including album producer M. Ward, tUnE-YaRdS, Valerie June and Nick Cave] gave me a challenge, which I love. Every time I’d finish one of the songs, I’d say, ‘Aw, shucks, I can hang. I can do this.’ Don’t say that word ‘old’ to me. That word is ugly. I’m not old; I’m not ever growing old. I can hang with these youngbloods.”
Don’t Be Afraid To Tell Your Story
“I didn’t want to do a documentary. But my manager, Dave [Bartlett], said, ‘It’s important; your family is history.’ It’s true: We’ve come a long way and done a lot. It’s a good family history to leave — and for everybody to see. I’m proud of it.”
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Some Fights Never End
“We’ve been living in some pretty dark places lately. I’ve seen a lot of riots — makes you think you’re still living in the ’60s sometimes. Dr. [Martin Luther King Jr.] would be so disappointed in what’s going on right now. Everything he died for has not been carried through. I’ve been singing the freedom songs all my life, and I always wonder if some of these young kids will sing songs to make the world better. But their minds aren’t on what I grew up singing about. I don’t think the world is tuned in and ready.”
This story originally appeared in the Feb. 27 issue of Billboard.