Vocalist

That message—a clarion call to love, to faith, to justice, to brotherhood, to joy—lies at the heart of We Get By, Staples’ spectacular twelfth studio album and first full-length collaboration with multi-GRAMMY Award-winner Ben Harper. Backed by her longtime touring band, Staples breathes extraordinary life into Harper’s compositions on the record, delivering roof-raising performances with both a youthful vigor and a commanding maturity. The arrangements here are spare but weighty, matched by Harper’s suitably lean and thoughtful production, and Staples seizes the opportunity to showcase her remarkable and continued evolution as an artist, one still growing and exploring more than half a century into her storied career. ‘We Get By’ is undoubtedly a timely collection, arriving such as it does in the face of deep social divisions and heightened political tensions, but like everything Staples touches, it’s also larger than any particular moment, a timeless appeal to the better angels of our nature that’s universal in its reach and unwavering in its assurance of better things to come.

Mavis Staples

Jimmy Lyons Stage

A true icon of soul music, 11-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples has captivated audiences for over six decades with her powerful and soul-stirring voice. As a member of the renowned Staple Singers, she played a pivotal role in shaping the sound of gospel, soul and R&B. Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” she is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate.

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Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Mavis Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She’s both a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; a civil rights icon; a GRAMMY Award-winner; a chart-topping soul/gospel/R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; and a Kennedy Center honoree. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and sang in Barack Obama’s White House.

The Flynn

Civil rights icon and living legend Mavis Staples returns to Symphony Center for one night only. With a presence "so unfailingly joyful that you never take your eyes off her" (The New Yorker), Chicago’s own Mavis Staples will bring her iconic smoky sound to Orchestra Hall in a scintillating evening of soul, gospel and her signature brand of R&B. Celisse, the phenomenal singer/songwriter and spoken word artist, opens the program with a “powerhouse voice, infectious personality and guitar shredding that earned her standing ovations” (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Mavis Staples with special guest Celisse

Symphony Center

Mavis Staples will perform with special guest Allison Russell at the Beacon Theatre on Saturday, February 28.

Vocalist

Mavis Staples

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 28, 2026

Mavis Staples · The Beacon Theatre

Past events

Sep 29, 2024

Mavis Staples · Monterey Jazz Festival

Mar 8, 2024

Mavis Staples · Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

About

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