Welcome to our collection of quotes by Mahalia Jackson. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson ( mə-HAY-lee-ə; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to the development and spread of gospel blues in black churches throughout the U.S. During a time when racial segregation was pervasive in American society, she met considerable and unexpected success in a recording career, selling an estimated 22 million records and performing in front of integrated and secular audiences in concert halls around the world.
The granddaughter of enslaved people, Jackson was born and raised in poverty in New Orleans. She found a home in her church, leading to a lifelong dedication and singular purpose to deliver God's word through song. She moved to Chicago as an adolescent and joined the Johnson Singers, one of the earliest gospel groups. Jackson was heavily influenced by blues singer Bessie Smith, adapting her style to traditional Protestant hymns and contemporary songs. After making an impression in Chicago churches, she was hired to sing at funerals, political rallies, and revivals. For 15 years she functioned as what she termed a "fish and bread singer", working odd jobs between performances to make a living.
Nationwide recognition came for Jackson in 1947 with the release of "Move On Up a Little Higher", selling two million copies and hitting the number two spot on Billboard charts, both firsts for gospel music. Jackson's recordings captured the attention of jazz fans in the U.S. and France, and she became the first gospel recording artist to tour Europe. She regularly appeared on television and radio, and performed for many presidents and heads of state, including singing the national anthem at John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Ball in 1961. Motivated by her experiences living and touring in the South and integrating a Chicago neighborhood, she participated in the civil rights movement, singing for fundraisers and at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She was a vocal and loyal supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a personal friend of his family.
Throughout her career Jackson faced intense pressure to record secular music, but turned down high paying opportunities to concentrate on gospel. Completely self-taught, Jackson had a keen sense of instinct for music, her delivery marked by extensive improvisation with melody and rhythm. She was renowned for her powerful contralto voice, range, an enormous stage presence, and her ability to relate to her audiences, conveying and evoking intense emotion during performances. Passionate and at times frenetic, she wept and demonstrated physical expressions of joy while singing. Her success brought about international interest in gospel music, initiating the "Golden Age of Gospel" making it possible for many soloists and vocal groups to tour and record. Popular music as a whole felt her influence and she is credited with inspiring rhythm and blues, soul, and rock and roll singing styles.
Put your mind on the gospel. And remember -- there's one God for all.
It's easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing -- that's the Lord's test.
Money just draws flies.
Gospel music in those days of the early 1930s was really taking wing. It was the kind of music colored people had left behind them down South and they liked it because it was just like a letter from home.
Gospel songs are the songs of hope. When you sing gospel you have the feeling there is a cure for what's wrong, but when you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on.
I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.
Someday the sun is going to shine down on me in some faraway place.
A great influence in my life was the sanctified or Holiness churches...Everybody in there sang and they clapped and stomped heir feet and sang with their whole body... Their music was so strong and expressive, it used to bring tears to my eyes.
If you don't like Louis Armstrong, you don't know how to love.
Gospel music is nothing but singing of good tidings -- spreading the good news. It will last as long as any music because it is sung straight from the human heart.
One thing about playing the real jazz is that you can't count it.
The trouble with records is that they're too short.
Time is important to me because I want to sing long enough to leave a message. I'm used to singing in churches where nobody would dare stop me until the Lord arrives!
Anybody that sings the blues is in a deep pit, yelling for help.
I don't worry too much about the script, I just ad lib, like Pearl Bailey.
This is the place to see the stars -- Hollywood Bowl.
The mind and the voice by themselves are not sufficient.
My hands, my feet, I throw my whole body to say all that is within me.
If you want me to sing this Christmas song with the feeling and the meaning, you better see if you can locate that check.
I hope to bring people to God with my songs.
Do you know most of the Jewish songs have the same trend of sadness as Negro spirituals?
They thought I was a success as soon as I started paying the bills.
I'll come to any benefit if I see SCLC get all the money.
Gospel music rhythms are not African in origin, although I know that's what the jazz experts say.
Everybody needs somebody.
The Lord doesn't like us to be dead. Be alive. Sometimes I dance to the glory of the Lord, because He said so.
When you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on.
Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.
Baby, black promoters oppressed me before white promoters ever got hold of me. Don't talk skin to me.
The old Devil gets mad when you're trying to do good. Pray that God will move the stumbling blocks.
How can you sing of amazing grace and all God's wonders without using your hands?
God can make you anything you want to be, but you have to put everything in his hands.
Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.
I close my eyes when I sing so I can feel the song better.
You're blessed if you have the strength to work.
It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test.
When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong.
Without a song, each day would be a century.
Anybody singing the blues is in a deep pit yelling for help.
Sometimes you ask God for something and you don't know what you're asking.
If you believe in God, He will open the windows of heaven and pour blessings upon you.