The Best Of Times… with Mavis Staples

Welcome to The Best Of Times… podcast brought to you by Lush and The Quietus. 

The Best Of Times… podcast is presented by John Doran. Over the coming months he will be talking to people about some of the best and worst times they have been through and hopefully find out how these experiences have made them who they are today. So far he has interviewed Sleaford Mods, The Specials, Kristin Hersh and Róisín Murphy. 

Today’s guest is living legend Mavis Staples who was born in Chicago in 1939 and from an early age was the voice that pushed The Staples Singers, the world’s most successful gospel group, to international fame. From the late 50s onwards the group started incorporating hard hitting social themes into their songs and from 1963 they were essential figures in the American Civil Rights movement. 

In a long and storied career she has sung for Barak Obama at The White House and has worked with Prince, Curtis Mayfield and Jeff Tweedy. Her new album, called We Get By, is produced by Ben Harper and is out on Anti- records in May shortly before her 80th birthday. 

This podcast was produced and engineered by Andrew Paine and co-produced by James Shakeshaft. The theme music is by Oh The Gilt. If you enjoyed it please subscribe, give us a star rating, tweet about us and tell your friends and family. Thanks for listening. We’ll be back soon with more Best Of Times.