Happy Birthday to the gospel and blues singer Mavis Staples, who turns 86 years old today. Born in Chicago, she started singing with her family’s band The Staple Singers as a young girl, and her deep-throated voice catapulted the group to the top of the charts eight times between 1971 and 1975, with songs like I'll Take You There, Let's Do It Again, and Respect Yourself. WATCH a video about her birthday... (1939)
