MAVIS STAPLES

If you caught Questlove’s directorial debut Summer of Soul, then you might recall a nervous and totally transcendent Mavis Staples singing alongside Mahalia Jackson. The...

In Questlove's documentary “Summer of Soul” a musical flood, too long dammed up, is finally released.

A dashing, Michigan-born chart-topping country star; an introspective folk-rock duo; a trail-blazing warrior-poet with more than 20 studio records; and, well, the Mavis Staples all...

Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in The Staple Singers, is dead at the age of 85.

Bruce Springsteen has won the Woody Guthrie Prize, which is given annually to an artist seen as carrying on the spirit of the folk singer whose music focused on the plight of the poor and disenfranchised.

The film will debut at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. (Sundance Film Festival via AP)Sundance Institute programs. Known as “Black Woodstock,” the festival occurred during the same summer as Woodstock — and just 100 miles away — but received far less attention. It debuted Thursday night at the Sundance Film Festival where it spawned immediate acclaim and countless at-home dance parties for virtual festivalgoers — a party Questlove extended with a live-streamed after-party DJ set. Morris Park for a celebration of soul, gospel, funk and, most of all of Black identity at a pivotal point in African American culture.

That sentiment is something that Skip Marley, a third-generation musician and grandson of reggae icon Bob Marley, has grown up knowing as well. “Music is music. The event will raise money for the Playing for Change Foundation, the United Nations Population Fund, Sankofa, Silkroad and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. It’s a spiritual experience to sing his grandfather’s songs, Marley said. “Those are the songs I first hear and the songs I first sing,” said Marley.

click to enlarge Myriam SantosMavis Staples. This is but the tip of the iceberg in terms of Staples incredible career as the coolest woman in music since she was 13 years old performing gospel music with her father and her siblings as the Staple Singers. For this special appearance, the genre-hopping powerhouse vocalist and unstoppable activist will perform to raise money for Ann Arbor nonprofit the Breakfast at St. Andrews, which has provided free meals to those in need every day since 1982. Performance begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, at Michigan Theater; 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor; 734-668-8397; michtheater.org. Tickets are $45.

ANN ARBOR - Civil rights icon, Grammy Award-winner and Blues and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples will headline the 11th annual benefit concert for The Breakfast at St. Andrew's, Acoustic Routes Concerts and The Ark announced on Monday. Staples' work as a gospel, soul and R&B pioneer transcends music. The benefit concert will mark the 11th time Acoustic Routes and The Ark have joined forces to raise money for the Breakfast at St. Andrew's, Ann Arbor's daily free meal program that's been running since summer 1982. "I cant thank Mavis Staples enough for sharing her talent and supporting the work of the Breakfast Program." All proceeds from the concert will benefit the 501(c)3 nonprofit hosted by St. Andrews Episcopal Church, located at 306 N. Division St.All About Ann Arbor is powered by ClickOnDetroit/WDIV.