Feb 29 2008
Mahalia Jackson: Didn’t It Rain
When she moved to Chicago from New Orleans in 1927, sixteen year old Mahalia Jackson found her way to the Greater Salem Baptist Church where she joined the choir. Soon she was singing with the Johnson Gospel Singers, traveling from church to church in the Chicago area. In 1929 she began working with Tomas A. Dorsey, who coined the term “Gospel music.” Dorsey had previously be Ma Rainy’s band leader and performed as “Georgia Tom” in a blues duo with Hudson “Tampa Red” Whittaker.
Mahalia Jackson was the first person to have a world class professional career singing only Gospel music. She refused to do any secular songs and divorced her husband, Isaac Hockenhull, because of his constant insistence that she do so. She was the first Gospel singer to perform in Carnegie Hall in 1950 and she toured Europe to wide acclaim. Jackson sang at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 and at the 1963 march on Washington, appearing with Dr. Martin Luther King. She is credited with mentoring Aretha Franklin, Della Reese and gospel singer Albertina Walker.
Here is Mahalia Jackson at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival singing “Didn’t It Rain.”
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