Her music cut through whatever lay in its wake and shackled itself to your soul. Those who witnessed her singing spoke of being taken to a sacred place by the sheer power of her voice. She was Mahalia Jackson, the world’s greatest gospel singer and creator of a musical standard by which all would be judged. Narrated by Paul Winfield, this documentary follows Mahalia’s life from beginning to end, from her refusal to sign documents or ‘name names’ in the witch hunts of the ’50s, and never turning to secular blues (music despite the pleadings of her record company), to her performance immediately before Martin Luther King’s monumental “I Have A Dream” speech.
Nobody would be more shocked about this than Mahalia herself, but she was induced into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, as her unique style was instrumental in the development of rock.
ALSO AVAILABLE “Mahalia Jackson Sings”, vintage kinescope performances from her 1961 series, and “Mahalia Jackson Sings the Songs of Christmas“, holiday favorites from these beautiful kinescopes.