From an Odd Couple

Mavis Staples, famous as part of the gospel-cum-secular soul group the Staple Singers, had met and sung with Prince on a number of occasions. But she was wholly unprepared last year when her father, Pops Staples, called and told her that the Purple Batguy’s manager was trying to track her down to offer her a solo contract with his Paisley Park Records.

“When they said that Prince wanted to write for me and have me join his label, I was flattered, but I did ask the manager, ‘Now, what type of song would Prince be writing for me?’ It wasn’t because of any dirty lyrics or anything, it was because of what I had heard Vanity and Apollonia singing. Those to me were teeny-bopper songs. I said, ‘I’m a grown woman, what would he write for me?’ ”

She was duly assured that The Kid (a Prince alias) would write some tunes suitable for a woman of experience and substance, and that was that. “I was real cool on the telephone, but I got off the phone and I jumped up and down and ran around, I felt so happy,” said a laughing, effusive Staples. “It’s been joy and I’ve been grinnin’ ever since.”

Prince produced the new album, “Time Waits for No One” (Mavis’ first solo effort since 1976), in Minneapolis in association with Stax veterans Al Bell, Homer Banks and Lester Snell in Tennessee. “It gave us a funky Memphis-and-Minnesota sound, so I started calling it MAM,” said Staples, a Chicago resident.

The odd coupling of Mavis and Prince did shock some who recall the Staple Singers’ roots as a gospel group, she acknowledged.

“People have asked me, ‘How do you feel about him putting God’s name with sex?’ But I think ‘Love-sexy’ is one of the most beautiful albums that Prince has written. He sent it to me, and I sat down and read the lyrics. It’s true that he has the Lord’s name in there with sex, but when the deal goes down, when it’s all said and done, it’s all beauty. This is the way I analyze it.”