Mahalia Jackson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson in concert in Zürich in 1961
Background information
Birth name	Mahala Jackson
Born	(1911-10-26)October 26, 1911 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	January 27, 1972(1972-01-27) (aged 60) Evergreen Park, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Gospel
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	c. 1928 – 1971
Labels	Decca Apollo Columbia
Associated acts	Thomas A. Dorsey Albertina Walker Robert Anderson J. Robert Bradley Brother John Sellers Della Reese

Mahalia Jackson (/məˈheɪliə/ MƏ-hay-LEE-ə; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer. Many people think she was one of the most important singers of the 1900s. She sang for 40 years. Mahalia helped make gospel blues popular in black churches across the U.S.

During a time when black and white people were often kept separate in America, she became very successful. She sold about 22 million records. She also performed for mixed audiences all over the world.

Mahalia's grandparents had been enslaved. She grew up in a poor family in New Orleans. Her church became a special place for her. She decided to spend her life sharing God's message through song. As a teenager, she moved to Chicago. There, she joined the Johnson Singers, one of the first gospel groups.

Mahalia was greatly inspired by musician Thomas A. Dorsey and blues singer Bessie Smith. She took Smith's singing style and used it for traditional church songs and new gospel tunes. After becoming well-known in Chicago churches, she sang at funerals, political events, and religious gatherings. For 15 years, she worked odd jobs between performances to make a living. She called herself a "fish and bread singer."

In 1947, Mahalia became famous across the country. Her song "Move On Up a Little Higher" sold two million copies. It reached number two on the Billboard charts. These were big firsts for gospel music. Her songs also caught the attention of jazz fans in the U.S. and France. She was the first gospel singer to tour Europe. She often appeared on TV and radio. She sang for many presidents and leaders, including at John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Ball in 1961.

Because of her experiences living and touring in the South, and moving into a mixed neighborhood in Chicago, she joined the Civil Rights Movement. She sang at fundraisers and at the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She was a strong supporter and close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and his family.

Throughout her career, Mahalia was pressured to sing pop music. But she turned down many high-paying offers. She wanted to focus only on gospel music. Mahalia taught herself to sing. She had a natural talent for music. Her singing was full of feeling, with lots of changes to the tune and rhythm. She was known for her powerful voice, wide range, and amazing stage presence. She could connect with her audience and make them feel strong emotions. She often cried and showed great joy while singing.

Her success made gospel music popular around the world. It started the "Golden Age of Gospel." This allowed many other gospel singers and groups to tour and record. Her influence was felt in popular music too. She helped inspire the singing styles of rhythm and blues, soul, and rock and roll.

Early Life in New Orleans (1911 – around 1928)

Mahalia Jackson was born to Charity Clark and Johnny Jackson. Her father worked on the docks and cut hair on weekends. Mahalia's parents were not married, which was common for black women in New Orleans back then. Her father lived elsewhere and was not part of her daily life.

Both of Mahalia's grandparents were born into slavery. Her father's parents were on a rice farm. Her mother's parents were on a cotton farm about 100 miles (160 km) north of New Orleans. Mahalia was named after her mother's older sister, Mahala "Duke" Paul. The family called Charity's daughter "Halie."

Aunt Duke lived in a small, leaky three-room house with Charity and her five other sisters and their children. Mahalia was the 13th person living in Aunt Duke's house. As her aunts found jobs as maids and cooks, they moved out. But Charity stayed with Mahalia, Mahalia's half-brother Peter, and Duke's son Fred. Mahalia was born with legs that curved outwards and eye problems. Her eyes healed, but her legs stayed curved for a few years. People nicknamed her "Fishhooks" because of her legs.

Church and Music in Childhood

The Clark family were strong Baptists. They went to Plymouth Rock Baptist Church nearby. They followed the Sabbath strictly. The whole house would shut down from Friday evening until Monday morning. Church members were expected to attend services, join activities, and follow rules. Dancing was only allowed in church if someone felt moved by the spirit.

The adult choir at Plymouth Rock sang traditional church songs. But Mahalia liked the songs the whole church sang together more. These songs were "lined out." Someone would call out a line, and the church would sing it back. These songs had a stronger beat, with clapping and foot-tapping. Mahalia later said this gave her "the bounce" that stayed with her. She joined the children's choir at age four.

Next door to Aunt Duke's house was a small Pentecostal church. Mahalia never went inside, but she stood outside during services and listened closely. The music there was louder and more joyful. They sang "jubilees" or fast spirituals. Shouting and stomping were normal there, unlike in her own church. Mahalia remembered, "These people had no choir or no organ. They used the drum, the cymbal, the tambourine, and the steel triangle. Everybody in there sang, and they clapped and stomped their feet, and sang with their whole bodies. They had a beat, a rhythm we held on to from slavery days, and their music was so strong and expressive. It used to bring tears to my eyes."

When Mahalia was five, her mother got sick and died. Aunt Duke took in Mahalia and her half-brother. Duke was very strict and had a bad temper. Mahalia spent her time working, often scrubbing floors. She also played by the levees, catching fish and crabs and singing with other children. She spent time at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, where her grandfather sometimes preached. The minister there gave sermons with a sad, "singing tone." Mahalia later said this deeply influenced her singing style. Church became a safe place for Mahalia, where she found music and comfort. She often went there to escape her aunt's bad moods.

She went to McDonough School 24. But she often had to stay home to help her aunts if they were sick. So, she rarely went to school for a full week. When she was 10, her family needed her more at home. She stopped school and started taking in laundry.

Discovering Her Voice

Mahalia worked and went to church on Wednesday evenings, Friday nights, and most of Sunday. She already had a big voice at age 12. She joined the junior choir. New Orleans was full of music. She often heard blues music coming from her neighbors' houses. She was also fascinated by funeral parades returning from cemeteries, where musicians played lively jazz.

Her older cousin Fred, who wasn't afraid of Aunt Duke, collected records of both kinds of music. The family had a phonograph. While Aunt Duke was at work, Mahalia played records by Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, and Ma Rainey. She sang along while she scrubbed floors. Bessie Smith was Mahalia's favorite, and she often copied her style.

Mahalia's legs started to straighten on their own when she was 14. But her arguments with Aunt Duke continued. She was often thrown out of the house for small reasons and spent many nights with other aunts nearby. After a final argument, she moved into her own rented house for a month. But she was lonely and didn't know how to support herself. When two of her aunts, Hannah and Alice, moved to Chicago, Mahalia's family worried about her. They asked Hannah to take her back to Chicago after a Thanksgiving visit.

Moving to Chicago and Gospel's Rise (around 1928–1945)

Mahalia arrived in Chicago in a very cold December. For a week, she was terribly homesick. She couldn't leave the couch until Sunday. Her aunts took her to Greater Salem Baptist Church. She felt at home there right away. She later said it was "the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me." When the pastor asked people to share their experiences with God, Mahalia felt inspired. She sang a lively version of "Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet, Gabriel." The audience was impressed but a little surprised. Mahalia's powerful voice was clear, but the church wasn't used to such an energetic performance.

Still, she was invited to join the 50-member choir. She also joined a singing group formed by the pastor's sons, Prince, Wilbur, and Robert Johnson, and Louise Lemon. They performed as a quartet, the Johnson Singers. Prince played the piano. They were Chicago's first black gospel group. They sang at social events and Friday night musicals. They also wrote and performed plays at Greater Salem to raise money for the church.

Mahalia came to Chicago during the Great Migration. This was a huge movement of black people from the Southern states to Northern cities. Between 1910 and 1970, hundreds of thousands of black Southerners moved to Chicago. They changed a neighborhood on the South Side into Bronzeville. This was like a black city within a city. It was mostly self-sufficient and thriving in the 1920s.

This movement caused white people to move to the suburbs. This left established white churches and synagogues with fewer members. Black churches took over their mortgages. Members of these churches were often well-educated black people who wanted to show they fit into white American society. Their music services were usually formal. They sang hymns by European composers in a serious way. Shouting and clapping were generally not allowed. They were seen as undignified. Special programs often featured complex choir arrangements to show off the choir's quality.

Finding Her Style

The difference between Northern and Southern church styles was clear when the Johnson Singers performed at a church one evening. Mahalia sang a solo and shocked the pastor with her joyful shouts. He accused her of bringing "twisting jazz" into the church. Mahalia was surprised for a moment. Then she replied, "This is the way we sing down South!"

The minister was not the only one who worried. Mahalia was often so lost in her singing that she didn't notice how she moved. To hide her movements, pastors asked her to wear loose robes. But she often lifted them a few inches from the ground. They even accused her of "snake hips" when she danced as the spirit moved her.

Mahalia saved up four dollars to pay a talented black opera singer to check her voice. She was upset when the professor scolded her. He said, "You've got to learn to stop hollering. It will take time to build up your voice. The way you sing is not good for the black race. You've got to learn to sing songs so that white people can understand them."

Soon, Mahalia found the teacher she needed. Thomas A. Dorsey, a skilled blues musician, was trying to switch to gospel music. He trained Mahalia for two months. He convinced her to sing slower songs to make them more emotional. Dorsey needed a singer to help sell his sheet music. He asked Mahalia to stand with him on Chicago street corners and sing his songs. They hoped to sell the music for ten cents a page. It wasn't a big financial success. But their work together accidentally created gospel blues solo singing in Chicago.

A "Fish and Bread Singer"

The Johnson Singers were steadily asked to perform at other church services and religious gatherings. Larger, more established black churches weren't very interested in them at first. But smaller storefront churches welcomed them. They were happy to perform there, even if they weren't paid much or at all. New people who had moved from the South went to these storefront churches. The services were less formal and reminded them of home. Mahalia found an eager audience in these new arrivals. One person called her "a fresh wind from the down-home religion."

Black Chicago was hit hard by the Great Depression. This led to more people going to church across the city. Mahalia said this helped start her career. Slowly, larger churches became more open to Mahalia's singing style. Many of them couldn't pay their bills. So, changing their music programs became a way to attract and keep new members.

When she first arrived in Chicago, Mahalia dreamed of being a nurse or a teacher. But before she could enroll in school, she had to take over Aunt Hannah's job when she got sick. Mahalia became a laundress and took many different jobs in homes and factories. The Johnson Singers started to earn a small income, from $1.50 to $8 a night. Steady work became less important than singing. Mahalia started calling herself a "fish and bread singer." She worked for herself and God.

She made her first recordings in 1931. These were singles she wanted to sell at National Baptist Convention meetings. But she wasn't very successful. As her audiences grew each Sunday, she started to be hired as a solo singer. She sang at funerals and political rallies for Louis B. Anderson and William L. Dawson. In 1932, at Dawson's request, she sang for Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential campaign. She became the only professional gospel singer in Chicago. Sometimes she made $10 a week. This was a lot for someone singing religious music.

Mahalia had a strong moral code that guided her career choices. Her only "bad habit" was going to movies and shows. But her grandfather visited one summer and had a stroke in Chicago. Mahalia prayed to God to save him. She promised she would never go to a theater again. He survived, and Mahalia kept her promise. She refused to go to theaters or sing in them for her whole career. She also promised to sing only gospel music, even though she faced a lot of pressure to sing other kinds of music.

In 1935, Mahalia met Isaac "Ike" Hockenhull. He was a chemist working as a postman during the Depression. Mahalia was impressed with him and married him after a year. Ike's mother gave them 200 recipes for homemade hair and skin products. Ike and Mahalia made cosmetics in their kitchen. She sold jars when she traveled. It wasn't steady work, and the cosmetics didn't sell well.

At one point, Ike lost his job. He and Mahalia had less than a dollar between them. He saw that auditions were happening for The Swing Mikado. This was a jazz version of an opera. He told her she had to go. The role would pay $60 a week. Also, he didn't think gospel music was artful. He often told her to get formal training and use her voice better. She refused, and they argued about it a lot. Feeling guilty, she went to the audition. She later called the experience "miserable" and "painful." When she got home, she learned she got the role. But when Ike told her he also found a job, she immediately turned down the role. He couldn't believe it. She also turned down Louis Armstrong and Earl "Fatha" Hines when they offered her jobs singing with their bands.

In 1937, Mahalia met Mayo "Ink" Williams, a music producer. He set up a recording session with Decca Records. She recorded four songs. Mahalia didn't tell her husband or Aunt Hannah about this. The records didn't sell well. But they were put in jukeboxes in New Orleans. Mahalia's whole family gathered around one in a bar, listening to her again and again. Decca said they would record her more if she sang blues. Once again, Mahalia refused.

The Johnson Singers broke up in 1938. But as the Depression eased, Mahalia saved some money. She got a beautician's license and bought a beauty salon in the heart of Bronzeville. It was successful right away and became a center for gospel music. Singers visited while Mahalia cooked for large groups of friends and customers in the back of the salon. It was across the street from Pilgrim Baptist Church, where Thomas Dorsey was now the music director.

Dorsey suggested they perform together to promote his music and her voice. She agreed. They toured off and on until 1951. It was regular and important work for them. Dorsey played piano for Mahalia. He often wrote songs just for her. His background as a blues player meant he was good at making up music on the spot. He encouraged Mahalia to improve her skills during their shows. He would give her lyrics and play chords while she created the tunes. Sometimes they performed 20 or more songs this way.

She was able to show strong feelings and connect deeply with audiences. Her goal was to "wreck" a church. This meant causing a spiritual excitement among the audience. She did this often. At one event, Dorsey jumped up from the piano in excitement. He announced, "Mahalia Jackson is the Empress of gospel singers! She's the Empress! The Empress!!"

Mahalia was always working and was a smart businesswoman. She became the choir director at St. Luke Baptist Church. She bought a building to rent out. Her salon was so successful that she had to hire help when she traveled on weekends. On tour, she counted people and tickets to make sure she was paid fairly.

What she earned and saved was despite her husband, Ike. He struggled with gambling. He once brought home a large amount of money and asked Mahalia to hide it. She put the flat bills under a rug, thinking he would never look there. Then she went to a weekend show. When she came back, she realized he had found it and used it to buy a race horse. In 1943, he brought home a new car for her. But he soon stopped paying for it. She paid for it completely. Then she learned he had used it as a loan when she saw it being taken away in the middle of the day on the busiest street in Bronzeville. They decided to separate.

National Recognition and Civil Rights (1946–1963)

Mahalia performed farther and farther from Chicago. In 1946, she sang at the Golden Gate Ballroom in Harlem. Art Freeman, a music scout for Apollo Records, was there. Apollo Records worked with black artists and audiences, mostly in jazz and blues. Apollo's boss, Bess Berman, wanted to include other types of music, like gospel. Berman signed Mahalia for four songs. Mahalia got to pick the songs.

Her first songs on Apollo didn't sell well. Berman asked Mahalia to record blues music, but she refused. Berman told Freeman to let Mahalia go. But Freeman asked for one more session to record the song Mahalia sang as a warm-up at the Golden Gate Ballroom concert. "Move On Up a Little Higher" was recorded in two parts for an old-style record.

Meanwhile, Chicago radio host Louis "Studs" Terkel heard Mahalia's records in a music shop. He was amazed. He bought and played them often on his show. Terkel introduced gospel music and Mahalia to his mostly white listeners. He interviewed her and asked her to sing live. "Move On Up a Little Higher" was released in 1947. It sold 50,000 copies in Chicago and 2 million across the country. It reached number two on the Billboard charts for two weeks. This was another first for gospel music. Most gospel artists only sold about 100,000 copies.

Berman set up another recording session for Mahalia. She sang "Even Me" (which sold one million copies) and "Dig a Little Deeper" (which sold almost one million). Suddenly, Mahalia was in high demand. A new position was created for her as the official solo singer of the National Baptist Convention. Her audiences grew to tens of thousands. She campaigned for Harry S. Truman. This earned her her first invitation to the White House. She had to give up her choir director job and sell her beauty shop because she was so busy. She stayed true to her rule. She turned down high-paying shows at famous New York City places.

The next year, promoter Joe Bostic asked her to perform in a gospel music show at Carnegie Hall. This was a famous place usually for classical music and well-known artists. Mahalia was nervous about this offer. Gospel music had never been performed at Carnegie Hall. Mahalia was the last artist to sing that evening. After a shaky start, she sang many extra songs. She received huge praise. Critics called her a "genius" and praised her powerful voice. The show was so successful that it became an annual event. Mahalia was the main performer for years. The show in 1951 broke attendance records.

By chance, a French jazz fan named Hugues Panassié visited the Apollo Records office in New York. He discovered Mahalia's music in the waiting room. He bought her records, took them home, and played them on French public radio. The Académie Charles Cros gave Mahalia their Grand Prix du Disque award for "I Can Put My Trust in Jesus." Mahalia was the first gospel singer to get this award.

Around the same time, Mahalia and blues guitarist John Lee Hooker were invited to a ten-day meeting. Jazz historian Marshall Stearns brought people together to talk about how to define jazz. Mahalia was with her pianist Mildred Falls. They performed 21 songs and answered questions from the audience, mostly writers and thinkers. Since Mahalia's singing was often seen as jazz or blues with religious words, she answered questions about gospel blues and how she developed her style. Near the end, someone asked Mahalia what parts of gospel music came from jazz. She replied, "Baby, don't you know the Devil stole the beat from the Lord?" People wrote about Mahalia in several publications. Her records were sent to the UK and shared among jazz fans. This made Mahalia very popular in both America and Europe. She was invited to tour Europe.

Mahalia first appeared on TV on Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan in 1952. As she got ready for her first European tour, she started having trouble breathing and severe stomach pain. She still went on the tour, where she was welcomed warmly. A jazz magazine called the tour "one of the most remarkable... ever undertaken by an American artist." Her show at the Royal Albert Hall in London made her the first gospel singer to perform there since 1872. She sold 20,000 copies of "Silent Night" in Copenhagen before the show. She played many shows while in pain, sometimes collapsing backstage. She lost a lot of weight during the tour and finally had to cancel. When she returned to the U.S., she had surgery. Doctors found many lumps in her body. She was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, a sickness where immune cells form lumps in organs. Sarcoidosis cannot be cured, but it can be treated. After surgery, doctors were hopeful she could continue as normal.

Columbia Records and Civil Rights

In 1954, Mahalia learned that Apollo Records had not been paying her all her money. They also let her contract end. Mitch Miller offered her a $50,000-a-year, four-year contract. Mahalia became the first gospel artist to sign with Columbia Records. This was a much larger company that could promote her across the country. Miller tried to make her music more appealing to white listeners. He asked her to record ballads and classical songs, but she refused again.

"Rusty Old Halo" became her first Columbia song. A music magazine called Mahalia "the greatest spiritual singer now alive." Columbia worked with a local radio station in Chicago to create a half-hour radio show, The Mahalia Jackson Show. It was very popular, and producers wanted to share it nationally. But it was cut to ten minutes, then canceled. She appeared on a local TV show, also called The Mahalia Jackson Show. It was also popular but canceled because it couldn't find sponsors. Even though white people started coming to her shows and sending fan mail, TV executives worried they would lose advertisers from Southern states who didn't want a show with a black person as the main focus.

Mahalia caught the attention of the William Morris Agency. This company helped her get booked in large concert halls and on TV shows with famous hosts in the 1950s. Her respectful and positive attitude made her desirable to TV producers who wanted to feature a black person on television. She appeared at the 1956 Democratic National Convention. She quieted a noisy hall of people with her song "I See God." Miller, who was there, was amazed. He said "there wasn't a dry eye in the house when she got through."

Mahalia also acted in films. She played a missionary in St. Louis Blues (1958) and a funeral singer in Imitation of Life (1959). As more people wanted to see her, she traveled a lot. She performed 200 shows a year for ten years. She and her group of singers and musicians traveled deeper into the South. They had trouble finding safe, clean places to sleep, eat, and buy gas because of Jim Crow laws. Sometimes they had to sleep in Mahalia's car, a large car she bought to make long trips more comfortable. Mahalia remembered, "The looks of anger at the sight of us colored folks sitting in a nice car were frightening to see... It got so we were living on bags of fresh fruit during the day and driving half the night, and I was so exhausted by the time I was supposed to sing, I was almost dizzy." Mahalia started to gain weight. She also developed unusual habits about money. As a black woman, Mahalia often found it impossible to cash checks when away from Chicago. So, her contracts demanded she be paid in cash. This often forced her to carry thousands of dollars in suitcases and in her clothes.

Each event in her career and personal life helped break down racial barriers. She often asked ushers to let white and black people sit together. Sometimes she asked the audiences to mix themselves, telling them they were all Christian brothers and sisters. After years of complaints about her loud singing in her apartment, even in the building she owned, Mahalia bought a house in an all-white neighborhood in Chicago. When this news spread, she started getting death threats. The day she moved in, her front window was shot. Mahalia asked Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago, for help. Daley ordered police to guard her house for a year.

A few months later, Mahalia appeared live on a TV special. She sang Christmas carols from Mount Moriah, her childhood church in New Orleans. The broadcast received great reviews. Mahalia got congratulatory messages from all over the country. Yet the next day, she couldn't get a taxi or shop along Canal Street in New Orleans.

While at a church meeting in 1956, Mahalia met Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Both were ministers who were starting to organize protests against segregation. Mahalia often sang for good causes without charge. She raised money to buy church organs, robes for choirs, or support missionaries. She extended this to civil rights causes. She became the most famous gospel musician connected to King and the civil rights movement. She raised money for the United Negro College Fund and sang at a prayer gathering in 1957. She later said she felt God had specially prepared King "with the education and the warmth of spirit to do His work."

She was inspired that civil rights protests were happening in churches and that hymns inspired the people involved. She traveled to Montgomery, Alabama to sing in support of the ongoing bus boycott. She and Mildred Falls stayed at Abernathy's house. That room was bombed four months later. After hearing that black children in Virginia couldn't go to school because of conflicts over integration, she threw them an ice cream party from Chicago. She sang to them over a telephone connected to a speaker system. She also supported a group of black farmers in Tennessee who were being forced off their land for voting.

Jackson in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, April 1961

As gospel music became more popular, mainly because of her, singers started performing in non-religious places. They did this to share a Christian message with people who weren't believers. Mahalia appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 and 1958. She was also in the concert film Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959). Her continued TV appearances kept her in high demand. She toured Europe again in 1961 and was incredibly successful. Crowds surrounded her in several cities, and she needed police escorts. All shows in Germany sold out weeks in advance. In Essen, she was called back for so many extra songs that she eventually changed into her regular clothes. The stage crew even removed the microphone. Still, she sang one more song. The best part of her trip was visiting the Holy Land, where she knelt and prayed at Calvary.

When King was arrested and sentenced to hard labor, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy stepped in to help. This earned Mahalia's strong support. She started campaigning for him. She said, "I feel that I'm a part of this man's hopes. He lifts my spirit and makes me feel a part of the land I live in." Her influence and loyalty to Kennedy earned her an invitation to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at his inaugural ball in 1961. Months later, she helped raise $50,000 for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Mahalia supported King and other ministers in 1963 after their successful campaign to end segregation in Birmingham. She held a fundraising rally to pay for protestors' bail. By this time, she was a personal friend of King and his wife Coretta. She often hosted them when they visited Chicago and spent Thanksgiving with their family in Atlanta. King considered Mahalia's house a place where he could truly relax. She appeared at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to sing "I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned" at King's request. Then she sang "How I Got Over". Three months later, while practicing for a TV show, Mahalia was heartbroken. She learned that Kennedy had been killed. She believed he died fighting for the rights of black Americans.

Later Years and Legacy (1964–1972)

Mahalia toured Europe again in 1964. Crowds surrounded her in several cities. She joked, "I thought I was the Beatles!" in Utrecht. She appeared in the film The Best Man (1964). She also attended a ceremony for Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration at the White House. She became friends with Lady Bird Johnson.

When she was home, she tried to stay friendly and sincere. Mostly in secret, Mahalia paid for the education of several young people. She deeply regretted that her own schooling was cut short. Stories of her kindness and generosity spread. Her phone number was still listed in the Chicago public phone book. She received calls nonstop from friends, family, business partners, and strangers. They asked for money, advice on music, or general life decisions. Her house had a steady flow of visitors, whom she welcomed. Mahalia had loved cooking since childhood. She greatly enjoyed feeding all her visitors. Some of them stayed for days or weeks at her request.

Through friends, Mahalia met Sigmond Galloway. He was a former musician in the construction business. Despite Mahalia's busy schedule and constant companions, she felt lonely. She started seeing Galloway when she had free time. To the surprise of her closest friends, Mahalia married him in her living room in 1964.

Only a few weeks later, while driving home from a concert, she couldn't stop coughing. She checked herself into a hospital in Chicago. Since her European tour was canceled in 1952, Mahalia had sometimes felt tired and short of breath. As her schedule got busier, these problems happened more often. This time, the public was told she had heart strain and exhaustion. But privately, Mahalia's doctors told her she had a heart attack and that her sarcoidosis was now affecting her heart.

Mahalia's recovery took a full year. During this time, she couldn't tour or record. She lost a lot of weight. From this point on, she was often tired, had a fast heartbeat, and high blood pressure as her condition got worse. Mahalia was often sad and frustrated by her health. But she took the time to send Lyndon Johnson a message. She urged him to protect marchers in Selma, Alabama when she saw news about Bloody Sunday.

Galloway proved to be unreliable. He left for long periods during Mahalia's recovery. When he returned, he insisted she was imagining her symptoms. He tried to take over her business dealings, even though he was not good at it. The marriage ended, and she announced her plan to divorce.

Her doctors allowed her to work again. Mahalia started recording and performing. She pushed her limits by giving two- and three-hour concerts. She performed very well, despite her personal problems and ongoing health issues. When not on tour, she focused on building two charities. The Mahalia Jackson Foundation eventually paid for college tuition for 50 students. She also worked on a dream she had for ten years: a special place for young people in Chicago to learn gospel music.

As she organized two big benefit concerts for these causes, she was heartbroken again. She learned about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.. She attended the funeral in Atlanta. There, she gave one of her most memorable performances of "Take My Hand, Precious Lord". After this, Mahalia stopped doing political work and giving personal endorsements.

Mahalia also went into business. She partnered with comedian Minnie Pearl in a chain of restaurants called Mahalia Jackson's Chicken Dinners. She also lent her name to a line of canned foods. She bought a fancy apartment in Chicago overlooking Lake Michigan. She made room for Galloway, as she was thinking about remarrying him.

At 58 years old, she returned to New Orleans. She was finally allowed to stay as a guest in the fancy Royal Orleans hotel. She received special treatment. She toured Europe again in 1968. She cut it short for health reasons. But she returned in 1969 to loving audiences. She was now having eye inflammation and painful cramps in her legs and hands. She still had successful tours of the Caribbean and Liberia in West Africa. She still checked the ticket sales to make sure she was paid fairly.

In 1971, Mahalia appeared on TV shows with Johnny Cash and Flip Wilson. For three weeks, she toured Japan. She became the first Western singer since World War II to give a private concert for the Imperial Family. The U.S. State Department sponsored a visit to India. She played in Kolkata, New Delhi, Madras, and Mumbai. All shows sold out within two hours. In New Delhi, she had a special meeting with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi said, "I will never hear a greater voice; I will never know a greater person."

While touring Europe months later, Mahalia became ill in Germany. She flew home to Chicago and was hospitalized. In January 1972, she had surgery for a problem in her stomach. She died during recovery.

Even though news had reported her health problems for years, her death shocked many fans. She had a funeral service at Greater Salem Baptist Church in Chicago, where she was still a member. Fifty thousand people paid their respects. Many lined up in the snow the night before. Other gospel singers performed in her memory the next morning. The day after, Mayor Richard Daley and other politicians and celebrities gave speeches at a theater with 6,000 people. Her body was returned to New Orleans. She was displayed at an auditorium under military and police guard. 60,000 people viewed her casket. On the way to the cemetery, the funeral procession passed Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Her music was played over loudspeakers.

Mahalia Jackson's Singing Style

Mahalia Jackson's gospel blues style was common among solo singers in black churches. But to many white jazz fans, it was new. Since she was the most famous gospel singer many white listeners knew, she was often asked to explain her style. Mahalia was mostly self-taught. She never learned to read or write music. So, her style was very natural and based on her feelings. She answered questions as best she could. She often said, "All I ever learned was just to sing the way I feel... off-beat, on the beat, between beats — however the Lord lets it come out." When asked for clearer descriptions, she replied, "Child, I don't know how I do it myself."

Mahalia's voice was known for being energetic and powerful. It could go from a low voice to a high voice very quickly. She didn't like to label her voice range. She called it "real strong and clear." She used "bent" or "worried" notes, common in blues music. She moaned, hummed, and changed the rhythm and tune a lot. She often sang many notes for one syllable. One writer called it a "weird ethereal sound, part moan, part failed operatics." A gospel historian said Mahalia's "aggressive style and rhythmic ascension" came from the Pentecostal church she heard as a child. He said Mahalia was "never a Baptist singer." He added that she would bend notes, cut them short, sing through pauses, and add decorations to the tune. This confused pianists but fascinated those who played by ear.

One writer was very impressed with her singing. He wrote that the extra touches Mahalia added were amazing. He quoted someone who said, "Mahalia, she add more flowers and feathers than anybody, and they all is exactly right." She broke all the rules of concert singing. She would breathe in the middle of a word and sometimes mumble words. But the full feeling and expression were heavenly. Another writer noted how she mixed clear speaking with a strong New Orleans accent. He said it sounded "almost academic one moment, and like the broadest cotton field dialect the next."

Mahalia herself, and many critics, agreed that Bessie Smith's singing style strongly influenced Mahalia's voice. One journalist compared them. He said Bessie's singing could sound harsh, but Mahalia's voice was clearly beautiful. He added, "Her bursts of power and sudden rhythmic drives build up to a pitch that leave you unprepared to listen afterwards to any but the greatest of musicians." Other singers also influenced her. In her early days in Chicago, Mahalia saved money to buy records by classical singers. She said these singers taught her how to speak clearly, breathe, and "what little I know of technique."

Recording Her Music

Mahalia thought she sold 22 million records in her career. Her four songs for Decca and 71 for Apollo are seen as important examples of gospel blues. Her earliest songs had simple piano and organ music. Apollo later added acoustic guitar, backup singers, bass, and drums in the 1950s. Her singing was lively, energetic, and emotional. One author described her voice as being "in the prime of its power and command."

Mahalia later said her Decca recordings were "not very good." But one writer called "Keep Me Every Day" a "gospel masterpiece." Another praised its "wonderful artless purity and conviction." He said that in her Decca records, her voice "was at its loveliest, rich and resonant." He also called Mahalia's Apollo records "uniformly brilliant." He chose several songs as perfect examples of her singing and voice range. He said they had an effect that was "angelic but never too sweet." Other sources also praised the "majesty" of Mahalia's voice in her Apollo songs. A music expert said Mahalia's early recordings showed a "sound that is all-embracing, as secure as the womb, from which singer and listener may be reborn." He added that the beauty of her voice and her smooth changes from speaking to praying to singing were healing.

Columbia Records, the biggest recording company in the U.S. at the time, presented Mahalia as the "World's Greatest Gospel Singer." They released 28 albums. They marketed her to a wide audience who, despite all her achievements, had never heard of her before 1954. Unlike Apollo's single songs, Columbia released albums with themes. These albums included notes and photos. Compared to other artists at Columbia, Mahalia had a lot of say in what she recorded. But producers tried to convince her to appeal to listeners of different faiths.

Her early songs at Columbia sounded similar to her Apollo records. But later, the music with Mahalia at Columbia included orchestras, electric guitars, backup singers, and drums. This made the overall sound more like light pop music. She was marketed like jazz musicians, but her music at Columbia was hard to categorize. Her albums mixed familiar songs by Thomas Dorsey and other gospel songwriters with generally inspiring songs. These included "You'll Never Walk Alone" from a musical, "Trees" based on a poem, "Danny Boy", and patriotic songs like "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

One book described Mahalia's Columbia recordings as "toned down and polished" compared to the more raw sound at Apollo. One scholar praised "When I Wake Up In Glory" as "one of the crowning achievements of her career." But another critic called her Columbia recordings of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "The Lord's Prayer" "uneventful." Mahalia partly agreed. She said her sound was becoming too commercial. She called some of these recordings "sweetened-water stuff." When her songs were clearly religious, some critics felt her delivery was sometimes less lively. A producer who helped Mahalia get her contract with Columbia told her that if she signed with them, many of her black fans might not like the music. This turned out to be true. As a result, Mahalia created a different performing style for Columbia recordings. It was very different from her live shows, which remained lively in both churches and concert halls.

Live Performances

In live performances, Mahalia was famous for her movements and the strong emotional connections she made with her audiences. The New York Times said she was a "massive, stately, even majestic woman, [who] possessed an awesome presence." She was so caught up in the spirit while singing that she often cried, fell on her knees, bowed, skipped, danced, clapped, and patted her sides and stomach. Especially in churches, she would walk through the aisles to sing directly to people. All of these were common in black church services, but Mahalia's energy was amazing. Once, she wore a wig with her robes during a show in the 1950s. She sang so wildly that she flung it off in the middle of the performance.

One writer said that "some of her gestures are dramatically jerky, suggesting instant spirit possession." He called her performances "downright terrifying." He added, "At her best, Mahalia builds these songs to a frenzy of intensity almost demanding a release in holler and shout. When singing them she may descend to her knees, her combs scattering like so many cast-out demons." Mahalia defended her unique ways. She said, "How can you sing of amazing grace, how can you sing prayerfully of heaven and earth and all God's wonders without using your hands? My hands, my feet, I throw my whole body to say all that is within me. The mind and the voice by themselves are not sufficient."

Just like with improvising music, Mahalia didn't like to plan what she would sing before concerts. She would often change her song choices based on how she felt at the moment. She said, "There's something the public reaches into me for, and there seems to be something in each audience that I can feel. I can feel whether there's a low spirit. Some places I go, fast songs don't work, and other places, sad songs aren't right." She had an amazing ability to make her audiences feel the same emotions she showed in her singing. People Today commented that "When Mahalia sings, audiences do more than just listen—they undergo a profoundly moving emotional experience."

Mahalia used "house wreckers," or songs that caused long, powerful moments with audiences crying, shouting, and moaning, especially in black churches. Gospel singer Evelyn Gaye remembered touring with her in 1938. Mahalia often sang "If You See My Savior Tell Him That You Saw Me." Gaye said, "and the people, look like they were just awed by it, on a higher plane, gone. She had that type of rocking and that holy dance she'd get into—look like the people just submitted to it." White audiences also cried and responded emotionally. According to a jazz writer, instead of preaching, Mahalia talked about her personal faith and spiritual experiences "immediately and directly... making it difficult for them to turn away."

Promoter Joe Bostic was in the audience of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. This was an outdoor concert during a rainstorm. He said, "It was the most fantastic tribute to the hypnotic power of great artistry I have ever encountered. Nothing like it have I ever seen in my life. Those people sat... they forgot... they were completely entranced."

A big part of Mahalia's appeal was her clear and honest religious belief. Bostic spoke of her strong faith: "Mahalia never became so fancy that she lost her humility, her relationship with God as a divine being. She never got beyond that point; and many times, many times, you were amazed — at least I was, because she was such a tough business woman." During her tour of the Middle East, Mahalia stood in wonder while visiting Jericho. Her road manager asked her if she truly thought trumpets brought down its walls. Mahalia replied honestly, "I believe Joshua did pray to God, and the sun stood still. I believe everything."

Gospel singer Cleophus Robinson said, "There never was any pretense, no sham about her. Wherever you met her it was like receiving a letter from home. She was a warm, carefree personality who gave you the feeling that you could relax and let your hair down whenever you were around her — backstage with her or in her home where she'd cook up some good gumbo for you whenever she had the time. A lot of people tried to make Mahalia act 'proper', and they'd tell her about her diction and such things but she paid them no mind. She never denied her background and she never lost her 'down home' sincerity."

TV host Ed Sullivan said, "She was just so darned kind to everybody. When Mahalia sang, she took command. The band, the stage crew, the other performers, the ushers — they were all rooting for her. When she came out, she could be your mother or your sister. I mean, she wasn't overly polite, you know; she was a star among other stars. Other people may not have wanted to be respectful, but they couldn't help it. This woman was just great." Commenting on how personal she felt, a journalist wrote after her 1961 concert, "Mahalia Jackson sang to ME last night." Others wrote about her ability to give listeners goosebumps or make the hair on their neck tingle.

Mildred Falls, Her Pianist

Until 1946, Mahalia used different pianists for recording and touring. She chose whoever was available and free to go with her. As her career grew, she needed a pianist who could be ready quickly. Someone talented enough to improvise with her, but also deeply familiar with religious music. Mahalia found this in Mildred Falls (1921–1974), who played for her for 25 years. Falls is often seen as a very important part of Mahalia's sound and success.

Mildred Falls was born Mildred Carter in Magnolia, Mississippi. She learned to play on her family's piano. She worked with church choirs and moved to California with a gospel singing group. After a broken marriage, she returned to Chicago in 1947. She was sent to Mahalia, who set up a short training with Robert Anderson, a longtime member of Mahalia's group. Falls played for almost every performance and recording after that.

Mahalia was always looking for new songs. She received 25 to 30 new songs a month to consider. Falls would play these so Mahalia could "catch the message of the song." Once songs were chosen, Falls and Mahalia memorized them. But while touring with Mahalia, Falls had to improvise. Mahalia never sang a song the same way twice, even from practice to a performance just minutes later. Falls had to watch Mahalia's movements and mouth instead of looking at the piano keys to keep up with her. At the start of a song, Falls might begin in one key. Mahalia would give her hand signals to change until Mahalia felt the right key for the song at that moment. Falls remembered, "Mahalia waited until she heard exactly what was in her ear, and once she heard it, she went on about her business and she'd tear the house down."

Studs Terkel compared Falls to famous pianists who played for classical singers. Another writer called Falls and Mahalia "the dynamic duo." He said their performance at a jazz festival created "a rhythmical drive such as is expected of the entire Basie band. It is all joy and exultation and swing, but it is nonetheless religious music." He said Falls' right hand playing was like the horns in an orchestra, constantly "talking" with Mahalia's vocals. Her left hand provided a "walking bass line that gave the music its 'bounce'," common in stride and ragtime piano playing. Similarly, TV host Dinah Shore called Falls' left hand "the strongest thing in the whole world." She said it gave Mahalia's music a strong beat usually missing from religious music. When Shore's studio musicians tried to figure out why Mahalia's sound was so exciting, Shore joked, "Mildred's got a left hand, that's what your problem is." One expert explained, "By Chicago choir standards her chordings and tempos were old-fashioned, but they always induced a subtle rock exactly suited to Mahalia's swing."

Mahalia Jackson's Impact

On Music

Mahalia Jackson had the biggest impact on black gospel music. Starting in the 1930s, singers like Sallie Martin, Roberta Martin, Willie Mae Ford Smith, Artelia Hutchins, and Mahalia spread the gospel blues style. They performed in churches across the U.S. For 15 years, this music grew mostly by itself. Choirs and soloists performed in churches, religious gatherings, and National Baptist Convention (NBC) meetings. Musicians, songwriters, and ministers shared and sold music there. The NBC had four million members. This network provided the songs Mahalia learned early on and used throughout her career.

Mahalia was not the first gospel blues solo singer to record. But historian Robert Marovich says her success with "Move On Up a Little Higher" launched gospel music. It went from a small movement in Chicago churches to a type of music that could be sold nationwide. The "Golden Age of Gospel" happened between 1945 and 1965. During this time, dozens of gospel music acts appeared on radio, records, and in concerts in non-religious places. The NBC recognized Mahalia's success by naming her its official solo singer. She was uniquely respected in a field of very competitive musicians. Marovich explained that she "was the living embodiment of gospel music's ecumenism and was welcomed everywhere."

One book identifies Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke as the most important figures in black gospel music in the 1950s. But for most new fans, "Mahalia was the vocal, physical, spiritual symbol of gospel music," according to one expert. A jazz writer said, "People who hold different religious beliefs to her own, and even people who have no religious beliefs whatsoever, are impressed by and give their immediate attention to her singing." He added that she "almost singlehandedly, brought about a wide, and often non-religious interest in the gospel singing of the Negro." Because white jazz and blues fans often asked her to define what she sang, she became gospel's most important defender. She said, "Blues are the songs of despair. Gospel songs are the songs of hope. When you sing gospel you have a feeling there's a cure for what's wrong. When you're through with the blues you've got nothing to rest on."

As gospel music became available to wider audiences, its style spread into popular music. Mahalia, who enjoyed all kinds of music, noticed this. She said the emotional power of rock and roll came from Pentecostal singing. Her Decca records were the first to feature the sound of a Hammond organ. This led to many copies and its use in popular music, especially soulful sounds, for decades. The first R&B and rock and roll singers used the same techniques that Mahalia and other gospel singers used. These included excited singing, shouting, moaning, clapping, and stomping. One writer said, "With the exception of Chuck Berry and Fats Domino, there is scarcely a pioneer rock and roll singer who didn't owe his stuff to the great gospel lead singers."

Specifically, Little Richard, Mavis Staples, Donna Summer, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Della Reese, and Aretha Franklin have all said Mahalia Jackson inspired them. Mahalia Jackson was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 in the Early Influence category. Mavis Staples explained her inclusion at the ceremony, saying, "When she sang, you would just feel light as a feather. God, I couldn't get enough of her." Aretha Franklin, who studied Mahalia since she was a child and sang at her funeral, was named the number one singer on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2010. Despite her influence, Mahalia was mostly unhappy that gospel music was used for non-religious purposes. She thought R&B and soul music were wrong, exploiting the music to make money.

On Black Identity

Mahalia Jackson's success deeply affected black American identity. This was especially true for those who didn't easily fit into white society. Even though she and gospel blues were criticized by some wealthier black people in the 1950s, for middle and lower-class black Americans, her life was a rags to riches story. She remained positive and comfortable with herself and her ways, even around white people.

In the film Imitation of Life, her role as a funeral singer showed the deep sadness of the character Annie, a maid who dies from heartbreak. One scholar wrote that in this role, "Jackson conjures up the unspeakable fatigue and collective weariness of centuries of black women." Through her music, she offered hope and celebrated the strength of the black American experience.

Mahalia Jackson was often compared to opera singer Marian Anderson. Both toured Europe, sang spiritual songs, and performed in similar places. Mahalia considered Anderson an inspiration. Mahalia was invited to sing at Constitution Hall in 1960. This was 21 years after a group had forbidden Anderson from performing there in front of a mixed audience. But Mahalia preferred the musical influence, casual language, and way of speaking of black Americans. This was a sharp contrast to Anderson's refined manners and focus on European music.

In interviews, Mahalia often said that parts of black culture played a big part in her style. These included remnants of slavery music she heard at churches, work songs from street vendors in New Orleans, and blues and jazz bands. Her first national TV appearance in 1952 showed her singing real gospel blues. This led to a large parade in her honor in Dayton, Ohio, with 50,000 black attendees. This was more than the mixed audience that showed up for a Harry Truman campaign stop around the same time.

Known for her excited shouts, Mahalia once called out "Glory!" on her TV show. She quickly followed with, "Excuse me, CBS, I didn't know where I was." By keeping her way of speaking and singing style, she challenged the shame many middle and lower-class black Americans felt about their accents. One journalist attended a Mahalia concert in 1954. She wrote that she expected to be embarrassed by Mahalia. But "when she sang, she made me choke up and feel wondrously proud of my people and my heritage. She made me drop my bonds and become really emancipated."

Malcolm X noted that Mahalia Jackson was "the first Negro that Negroes made famous." White radio host Studs Terkel was surprised to learn Mahalia had a large black following before he found her records. He said, "For a stupid moment, I had thought that I discovered Mahalia Jackson." Jazz composer Duke Ellington, a fan of Mahalia's since 1952, asked her to appear on his album Black, Brown and Beige (1958). This album honored black American life and culture. Because she had decided to sing only gospel, she first said no. But she agreed when Ellington asked her to improvise the 23rd Psalm. She was featured on the album's vocal version of Ellington's song "Come Sunday", which later became a jazz classic.

As she became more famous, spending time in concert halls, she continued to attend and perform in black churches. She often did this for free. She wanted to connect with church members and other gospel singers. Mahalia believed that black wealth should be put back into black communities. She designed her chain of chicken restaurants to be owned and run by black people. In 1969, she organized a concert called A Salute to Black Women. The money raised went to her foundation, which provided college scholarships to black youth. After her death, singer Harry Belafonte called her "the most powerful black woman in the United States." He said there was "not a single field hand, a single black worker, a single black intellectual who did not respond to her."

Discography

Filmography

Honors and Awards

Images for kids

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  Mahalia Jackson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten in 1962

See also

In Spanish: Mahalia Jackson para niños