Mahalia Jackson, born October 26, 1911 in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an African American gospel singer, widely regarded as one of the best in the history of the genre. She grew up in the "Black Pearl" section of the Carrollton neighborhood of uptown New Orleans, Louisiana and began singing in a Baptist church.

She moved to Chicago in 1927 where she sang with The Johnson Brothers, one of the earliest professional gospel groups. The Johnson Brothers broke up in the mid 1930s, and Jackson began her solo career, recording for Decca in 1937. The result, God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares was only a moderate success, but Jackson became a popular concert draw.

She experienced a recording hiatus until 1946 when she signed with Apollo Records, releasing several singles that are now highly regarded, though sales were sluggish at the time. Move on up a Little Higher (1948) became a huge success however, and stores couldn't stock enough of it to meet demand.

Jackson rocketed to fame in the US, and soon after in Europe. I Can Put My Trust in Jesus won a prize from the French Academy, while Silent Night was one of the best-selling singles in the history of Norway.

She began a radio series on CBS, which aired from September 1954 to February 1955. She signed to Columbia Records in 1954. With her mainstream success came an inevitable backlash from gospel purists who felt she had watered down her sound for popular accessibility.

Jackson's career in the late 1950s and early 1960s continued to rise when she recorded with Percy Faith, and performed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. She also sang at the funeral of her friend, Martin Luther King, Jr. The late 1960s saw a downturn in her popular success. She ended her career with a concert in Germany in 1971; when she returned, she made one of her final television appearances on The Flip Wilson Show. Mahalia Jackson passed on January 13, 1972.

Mahalia was posthumously inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1978.

Epilogue

Mahalia became known as the Queen of Gospel Music because she brought traditional gospel to large audiences transcending Black churchgoers, through recordings, radio performances and concert tours in America and abroad.

Mahalia sang with a rich, deep, contralto voice in a syncopated beat. Mahalia's records sold millions. Her style of performing was compared to that of the great blues singer Bessie Smith.

However, during her life she insisted that gospel songs were not to be compared to blues because they really consisted of "making a joyful noise unto the Lord"--Psalms 100:1.

Mahalia, however, was very active and supportive of the civil rights movement and African Americans' struggle for justice and equality, and she often raise her voice high in song in support of the cause. Mahalia was also a favorite of such outstanding African Americans as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and jazz vocal icon Nat King Cole, who were both close friends of the gospel great. And, many people in America and globally, considered Mahalia Jackson the Queen of Gospel Music.

Nokhanya

Wikipedia