I'LL TAKE YOU THERE

I’LL TAKE YOU THERE is the authorized biography of Mavis Staples, leader singer of The Staples Singers and a major figure in the music that shaped the Civil Rights era. This is a story of songs, faith and family, and overcoming poverty and racism to fashion a rich legacy in popular music, researched and written by acclaimed music journalist and author Greg Kot.

Staples is one of the most enduring figures of popular music. As the lead singer of The Staple Singers, she fused gospel, soul and rock to transcend racism and oppression through song. Honing her prodigious talent on the Southern gospel circuit of the 1950s, Mavis and her band The Staple Singers went on to sell over 30 million records. Her message-oriented soul music became a soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring Martin Luther King Jr. himself. Chicago Times music critic Greg Kot cuts to the heart of Mavis Staples's music, revealing the intimate stories of her sixty year career. From her previously unreported love affair with Bob Dylan, to her creative collaborations with Prince, to her recent revival alongside Wilco's Jeffy Tweedy, this definitive account shows Mavis Staples as you've never seen her before. Written with the complete cooperation of Mavis Staples and her family, readers will also hear from the Martin Luther King family, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jesse Jackson, Booker T. and the MG's, Martin Scorsese, and many other artists who have been influenced by Mavis' music.

Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune since 1990. Kot is cohost of the nationally syndicated radio program Sound Opinions, “the world’s only rock 'n’ roll talk show,” and he is the author of Wilco: Learning How to Die and Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. He lives in Chicago.