Jackson, Mahalia
1911-1972 · Contribution: 1947-1972
Known as 'the Queen of Gospel'; first gospel recording artist to achieve mainstream commercial success and international touring success while refusing to ever sing secular music
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Her 1947 recording 'Move On Up a Little Higher' sold roughly two million copies and became the first gospel record to reach number two on the Billboard charts, after which she became the first gospel artist to tour Europe, achieving mainstream commercial and international success while steadfastly refusing throughout her career to ever sing secular music, a personal conviction she held even as former gospel peers like Sam Cooke and Ray Charles crossed over into R&B; she sang at the March on Washington just before Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech and performed his favorite hymn, 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord,' at his funeral.
Life & background
Born in New Orleans and raised in poverty, Jackson moved to Chicago as a teenager, where she joined the early gospel group the Johnson Singers and was discovered by Thomas A. Dorsey, who personally coached her for two months on technique and repertoire after the two crossed paths near Pilgrim Baptist Church, where he served as music director; Dorsey, hoping to sell his sheet music, recruited Jackson to perform with him on Chicago street corners, an unglamorous partnership that nonetheless helped birth the modern tradition of gospel blues solo singing. For roughly 15 years she worked what she herself called a 'fish and bread' existence, taking odd jobs between singing engagements at funerals, political rallies, and revivals, since established Black churches initially showed little interest in her style and she was instead courted mainly by smaller storefront congregations. Her 1947 breakthrough recording made her the first gospel artist to achieve major mainstream commercial success, and she went on to record extensively for Columbia Records, sang at the 1963 March on Washington immediately before King's 'I Have a Dream' address, and performed at his funeral in 1968, having remained one of his closest personal friends and a financial supporter of the civil rights movement throughout. She died in 1972, and her funeral was itself attended by tens of thousands of mourners, with Aretha Franklin performing the same Thomas Dorsey hymn Jackson had once sung for King.
Sources
- BlackPast.org; Georgia Historical Society; Routes Magazine
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