Mavis Staples 85th: All-Star Birthday Concert took place on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at YouTube Theater, and featured once-in-a-lifetime performances with Mavis Staples and an incredible lineup of superstar artists, including Black Pumas, Chris Stapleton, Grace Potter, Hozier, Jackson Browne, Jeff Tweedy, Keb’ Mo’, Michael McDonald, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal, The War And Treaty, plus special guests Bonnie Raitt and Trombone Shorty.
Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Mavis 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 three-time GRAMMY Award winner (and a GRAMMY lifetime achievement award); a chart-topping soul, gospel, and R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; named to Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Singers of All Time at #46; 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. Over the past few decades alone, she’s collaborated with everyone from Prince and Bob Dylan to Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, blown away countless festivalgoers from Newport Folk and Glastonbury to Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo and graced the airwaves on Fallon, Colbert, Ellen, Austin City Limits, Jools Holland, and the Grammys.