Renowned gospel singer Mavis Staples encompassed more than half a century of activism in her soulful performance at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center last week.
Staples, a Chicago native, has performed for more than 70 years and started with The Staple Singers — her father’s band — at 11. She began recording solo work in 1969, and her music brushed on topics such as self-worth and social justice.
Megan Pagado Wells, The Clarice’s artistic programming co-director, hoped the event would expose students to someone with a fresh perspective on the world. Staples’ background in activism was a contributing factor in asking her to perform, Pagado Wells added.
Staples is championed as a longtime civil rights activist, spurred by her father Pops Staples’ friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Some of The Staples Singers’ songs were written in response to real world events, such as “Why (Am I Treated So Bad?),” which commented on the treatment of the Little Rock Nine — a group of nine Black students who were the first to attend a previously racially segregated school in Arkansas, according to an NPR interview with Staples.
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“She and her family were activists through their music during the Civil Rights Movement, and their music fueled the soundtrack of that area,” Pagado Wells said. “She’s just incredibly storied and legendary, so it was a no-brainer to try and bring her back to the university.”
Staples’ set was filled with a mix of her solo work and classics, along with several covers relevant to her advocacy.
The opener, “City in the Sky,” ignited the stage with a passionate belter about escaping to a place without life’s hardships with lyrics such as, “There’s been too many children with tears in their eyes / We’re gonna build them a city in the sky.” Her eruptive vocals immediately ramped up the audience’s energy with resounding claps to the beat.
Sunday’s performance marked Staples’ second at the university, with her first in 2013. Kiefer Cure, a senior theater and neuroscience major, saw Staples live for the first time as a sound technician for the show. Cure heard about Staples’ prowess over the years and enjoyed the personality in her songs and performance.
“Respect Yourself” served as the empowering anthem of the night, stressing the importance of self love. “If you don’t respect yourself / Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na,” Staples sang to an applauding crowd.
Staples also paid tribute to her late father with a cover of his song “Friendship,” recorded a year before his death. Its lyrics about a close bond — “We got friendship, yeah / The kind that lasts a lifetime” — manifested a whole new meaning. In a somber break from the action-packed set, she grew emotional by the final chord.
Staples’ larger-than-life stage presence captivated the crowd for the entire set.
“It was so clear that [Staples] had the audience in the palm of her hand,” Pagado Wells said.
The spirited “Freedom Highway,” written as tribute to the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, closed her dynamic performance. After a full 75 minute set, the audience was left craving more.
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Thunderous applause erupted from an audience of both lifelong fans and newcomers as Staples made her way off the stage.
College Park resident Mike McClellan viewed the concert as an “opportunity for him to reconnect with an artist he has followed for years.
“This reintroduces me to my memories of the sounds and the songs [The Staple Singers] sang,” McClellan said. “I’m an old guy, older than Mavis, so I appreciate reliving that.”
