Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson was an American gospel singer, born in poverty in New Orleans in 1911, the granddaughter of enslaved people, who was central to the development and spread of gospel blues in Black churches. In Chicago she sang with the Johnson Singers and drew on Thomas Dorsey and Bessie Smith; her 1947 recording Move On Up a Little Higher sold two million copies, a first for gospel music. She became the first gospel recording artist to tour Europe, turned down offers to record secular music, and is credited with influencing rhythm and blues, soul and rock and roll singing. A supporter of Martin Luther King Jr., she sang at the March on Washington in 1963. She died in 1972.