The Berklee College of Music in Boston has announced that Mavis Staples will be receiving an Honorary Degree during the school's commencement ceremony on May 7th. The ceremony will be held at Agganis Arena at Boston University.
Vocalist Mavis Staples, alongside her siblings and her father, catapulted gospel into the pop mainstream as the Staple Singers with No. 1 hits "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again." From her work with her family through her solo career, launched in 1969 with the release of her self-titled solo album, Staples has continually delivered songs with a larger meaning within a social and political context. The Staple Singers performed at rallies for Martin Luther King Jr., and Mavis's 2007 album We'll Never Turn Back features freedom songs of the civil rights movement.
Over the course of her career, Staples has collaborated with a cross-genre who's who in the industry, including Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Prince, Nona Hendryx, Aretha Franklin, the Band, Booker T & the M.G.'s, Curtis Mayfield, and Natalie Merchant. Mavis Staples finally won her first Grammy Award this year: Best Americana Album. In addition, Staples is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner, and a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient.
Others receipients of the Honorary Degree include Michael McDonald, Kenny Garrett, Chucho Valdés and Bebo Valdés.
Congratulations to Mavis Staples, an amazing singer, performer, and person. I have to add how much I love her never ending smile and laughter, it's truly contagious!
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