7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Mahalia Jackson

(b. Oct. 26, 1911, New Orleans, La., U.S.—d. Jan. 27, 1972, Evergreen
Park, near Chicago, Ill.)

A

merican gospel music singer Mahalia Jackson is
known as the “Queen of Gospel Song.”
Jackson was brought up in a strict religious atmosphere.
Her father’s family included several entertainers, but she
was forced to confine her own musical activities to singing
in the church choir and listening—surreptitiously—to
recordings of Bessie Smith and Ida Cox as well as of Enrico
Caruso. When she was 16 she went to Chicago and joined
the Greater Salem Baptist Church choir, where her
remarkable contralto voice soon led to her selection as a
soloist.
Jackson first came to wide public attention in the
1930s, when she participated in a cross-country gospel
tour singing such songs as “He’s Got the Whole World in
His Hands” and “I Can Put My Trust in Jesus.” In 1934 her
first recording, “God Gonna Separate the Wheat from the
Tares,” was a success, leading to a series of other record-
ings. Jackson’s first great hit, “Move on Up a Little Higher,”
appeared in 1945; it was especially important for its use
of the “vamp,” an indefinitely repeated phrase (or chord
pattern) that provides a foundation for solo improvisation.
All the songs with which she was identified—including “I
Believe,” “Just over the Hill,” “When I Wake Up in Glory,”
and “Just a Little While to Stay Here”—were gospel songs,
with texts drawn from biblical themes and strongly influ-
enced by the harmonies, rhythms, and emotional force of
blues. Jackson refused to sing any but religious songs or
indeed to sing at all in surroundings that she considered
inappropriate. But she sang on the radio and on television
and, starting in 1950, performed to overflow audiences in