Mahalia Jackson

Many view Mahalia Jackson as the foremost gospel vocalist in history. Her breakthrough appeal bridged racial lines, establishing her as the genre's inaugural superstar, and long after her passing she endures in the minds of numerous devotees as an emblem of its uplifting force. The unmatched emotional range of her contralto has continued to shape later singers. One of the earliest sacred artists to weave blues inflections into her delivery, she introduced a sensuality and expressive liberty previously absent from gospel, thereby redefining its boundaries for good.

She came into the world amid dire poverty in New Orleans on October 26, 1911. At age four she sang for the first time in the children's choir of Plymouth Rock Baptist Church, and before long she stood out in the junior choir at Mt. Moriah Baptist. Growing up beside a sanctified congregation, she absorbed their percussive approach that favored drums and rhythm instruments above piano; the blues of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey supplied further powerful influences.

By her mid-teens Jackson had crystallized a wholly personal vocal approach that merged the robust power and driving pulse of sanctified music with the profound feeling of the blues and the ornamental phrasing absorbed from her Baptist roots. After leaving school in the eighth grade she moved to Chicago in 1927 and took work as a maid and laundress. Within months she was leading songs with the choir at Greater Salem Baptist Church and joined the Johnson Brothers, the pastor's three sons. Though earlier choir ensembles had recorded, the Johnson Brothers may have been the first professional gospel act; they became the first organized unit to tour the Chicago church circuit and staged original musical dramas in which Jackson took the principal part. Her animated stage manner—drawn from Southern sanctified traditions of bodily movement and marked by emphatic jerks and steps—drew sharp criticism from conservative Northern ministers, yet her commanding talent proved impossible to dismiss.

Once the Johnson Brothers disbanded in the mid-1930s, Jackson launched a solo career supported by pianist Evelyn Gay, who later achieved fame as one of gospel's Gay Sisters. She also attended beauty school during the week and soon opened her own salon. As word of her singing spread across the Midwest, she cut her first sides for Decca in 1937, becoming the label's initial gospel signing; oddly, none of the numbers she recorded on May 21 came from Thomas A. Dorsey, the renowned composer who around that time hired her as a song demonstrator (he even composed "Peace in the Valley" specifically for her). Her Decca release "God's Gonna Separate the Wheat from the Tares" sold modestly and led to a long recording break, yet her live career advanced steadily—she began appearing in distant cities such as Buffalo, New Orleans, and Birmingham, earning nationwide church renown for both her singular voice and her engaging presence paired with deep spiritual fervor.

She did not enter the studio again until 1946, when she signed with Apollo Records. Although her dealings with the company were frequently difficult, the material she produced over her eight-year tenure often reached exceptional heights. Early Apollo releases such as "I Want to Rest" and "He Knows My Heart" sold poorly, nearly causing the label to drop her, until producer Art Freeman urged her to record W. Herbert Brewster's "Move on Up a Little Higher." Issued in early 1948, the single became the biggest gospel hit ever, with demand so overwhelming that stores could not keep it in stock. Overnight Jackson attained stardom. Beginning in 1950 she appeared regularly on journalist Studs Terkel's Chicago television program, and among White intellectuals and jazz writers she developed a devoted following rooted largely in her striking resemblance to Bessie Smith. In 1952 her recording of "I Can Put My Trust in Jesus" received an award from the French Academy, leading to a successful European tour; her version of "Silent Night" also ranked among Norway's all-time best-selling records.

Her popularity soon grew so vast that in 1954 she began hosting her own weekly CBS radio series, the first national broadcast to present unadulterated sanctified gospel. The program featured pianist Mildred Falls, organist Ralph Jones, and a White quartet directed by Jack Halloran. Although her collaborations with Halloran's singers carried her toward an unusual blend that edged into barbershop harmony, White listeners embraced the hybrid, completing her emergence as a genuine crossover figure. That same year she joined Columbia and scored a Top 40 hit with "Rusty Old Halo," then made her Ed Sullivan Show debut two years later. Success, however, triggered predictable resistance: purists condemned the shift toward pop-oriented production, and her rising fees eventually placed her beyond the reach of most Black congregations by the late 1950s.

A standout performance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival reinforced her critical standing, yet subsequent recordings distanced her further from her original audience. After an orchestral album with Percy Faith succeeded commercially, Columbia pressed for additional sessions with large ensembles and choirs; she even recorded "Guardian Angels" with comic Harpo Marx. She appeared in the 1959 film Imitation of Life and, two years later, performed at John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration. Throughout the 1960s she remained a close ally of Dr. Martin Luther King and sang his final request, "Precious Lord," at his funeral. She played an active role in the civil rights movement, but after the 1968 assassinations of King and the Kennedy brothers she withdrew from political involvement. Around the same period a highly public divorce precipitated heart attacks and the swift loss of more than a hundred pounds. In her final years she regained much of her earlier stature, ending her career with a farewell concert in Germany in 1971. She died January 27, 1972.