The Gospel Singer Mavis Staples to Get Kennedy Center Honor

[MerryBlooms]

WASHINGTON — The gospel singer Mavis Staples has toured the world with her family as part of the Staple Singers, sang for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the height of the civil rights movement, spent weeks on the Billboard charts, experienced a midcareer resurgence in the 1980s thanks largely to Prince, and once turned down a marriage proposal from Bob Dylan. Now the soon to be 77-year-old will be a Kennedy Center honoree, the second gospel singer, after Marion Williams in 1993, to be recognized in the awards’ history.

“I started crying, I hit the floor, I asked my manager, ‘Are you sure?’” Ms. Staples said by phone, recalling the moment she heard the news. “I’m still excited and in disbelief. It’s so uplifting. I feel good. I must be the happiest old girl in the world.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/arts/mavis-staples-to-get-kennedy-center-honor.html

Performance will be broadcast on CBS on December 27, 2016 at 9:00 p.m., ET/PT

[bbgrunt]

1. 'bout time! Mavis is a marvel.

[MerryBlooms]

2. An American treasure!

[Princess Turandot]

3. That's great! I was just watching her perform at the 2010 KCH for Paul McCartney...

it's here:

The segment with her starts at 14:00 with James Taylor, whom they are also honoring this year, singing 'Let It Be'; she joins him after the first verse. In the finale, she exchanges a few notes with the Demon of Screamin' himself. (That would be Aerosmith's Steven Tyler). Both Paul and President Obama seemed to get a kick out of that moment. (If you have 20 minutes to spare, the whole program is excellent.)

[spanone]

4. i'll take you there....

[Ptah]

5. Waiting for my Child to Come

[Ptah]

6. Kick for Mavis Staples