35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Super Hero MAHALIA JACKSON

Mahalia Jackson 

Mahalia Jackson produced an inventive contralto style by fusing traditional Baptist hymns with jazz and a rousing sanctified gospel beat that was so uplifting she became the first gospel superstar. After rebounding from mediocre responses to several of her early records, the entertainment industry quickly rolled out the red carpet for the "Queen of Gospel Song" when "Move On Up a Little Higher," composed by W. Herbert Brewster, sold more than two million copies. It became clear in 1948 that a legend was in the making. 

On October 16, 1911, Jackson became the newest member of John and Charity Jackson's three-room home in the impoverished Water Street neighborhood in New Orleans. Money may have been lacking, but music was plentiful in a city known for melodious innovations. 

Jackson learned to sing gospel about the same time that she added talking and walking to her physical repertoire. At age four, she performed in the children's choir at Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Following her mother's death, four-year-old Mahalia and her brother joined aunts who adhered to a strict religious upbringing. Somehow, over the course of her childhood, Jackson still became influenced by contemporary jazz and blues, in addition to the foot-stomping spontaneity of sanctified gospel. When Jackson blended that musical gumbo, she served the world gospel with enough spice and passion to start a fresh tradition that lit up congregations from New Orleans to her new home, Chicago. 

Family finances caused Jackson to quit the eighth grade and get a job as a domestic in New Orleans. By 1928, she was living with an aunt in Chicago, where her choral pleasures were resumed at Greater Salem Baptist Church. There she teamed with Louise Barry Lenon and the three Johnson brothers to form the professional Johnson Gospel Singers. Soon Jackson caught the attention of Thomas A. Dorsey, who helped launch her solo career. 

At one point in 1932, before her fame was at its height, she went to a Professor DuBois for a music lesson. She was instructed to stop hollering and to enunciate her words so white folks could understand them—it was her last lesson. Studs Terkel, however, had no problem recognizing Jackson's talent when he booked her as a regular on his radio show. Nor did the French Academy have any difficulty appreciating Jackson's recording of "I Can Put My Trust in Jesus." An award from that academy led to a successful European tour and more hit records worldwide. She also shared her unique vocal style on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town. 

In 1954, Jackson's rising star won her the first gospel radio show in the nation. A few years later, she became the first gospel performer in the Newport Jazz Festival. She also appeared in several films, such as Imitation of Life in 1959, and performed at the 1961 inauguration of President John F. Kennedy. 

Despite overtures, Jackson refused numerous offers to sing in Las Vegas. She would not sing religious songs amidst gambling and vice. She did, however, visit churches on Chicago's South Side, where she often sang for free. 

Throughout the late 1950s and '60s, Jackson often responded to calls for support from Martin Luther King, Jr. Jackson's voice could be heard during numerous civil rights demonstrations, including the historic Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, D.C.

Jackson suffered a series of heart attacks that slowed the pace of her career. Months before her fatal heart attack on January 27, 1972, she stirred the crowd at a final concert in Germany.

From Great African Americans.  Copyright, Publications International, Ltd.