Mavis Staples is a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winner and Gospel Hall of Famer— living, breathing history. She made a name for herself in the 1950s as part of The Staple Singers, went on to contribute to the freedom songs of the Civil Rights era, and later rose to pop radio stardom with hits like “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.”​

Now in her eighth decade of singing truth, she has a presence “so unfailingly joyful that you never take your eyes off her” (The New Yorker). On September 9th, Chicago’s own Mavis Staples will bring her iconic smoky sound to the PVDFest mainstage in a scintillating evening of soul, gospel and her signature brand of R&B.​

With her trademark deep growl more powerful than ever, Staples shouts, croons, scats, swoops, and testifies like no one else can.​