.
Three days later, a thousand miles away, the scene repeated itself: again the long lines, again the silent tribute, again the thousands filling the great hall of the Rivergate Convention Center in downtown New Orleans this time. Mayor Moon Landrieu and Louisiana Governor John J. McKeithen joined gospel singer Bessie Griffin; Dick Gregory praised 'Mahalia's "moral force" as main reason for her success", and Lou Rawls sang "Just a Closer Walk With Thee". The funeral cortège of 24 limousines drove slowly past her childhood place of worship, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, where her recordings played through loudspeakers. It made its way to Providence Memorial Park in Metairie, Louisiana where Jackson was entombed.[11] Despite the inscription of Jackson's birth year on her headstone as 1912, she was actually born in 1911.
Jackson's estate was reported at "more than a million dollars". Some reporters estimated that record royalties, TV and movie residuals, and various investments made it worth more. The bulk of the estate was left to a number of relatives — many of whom cared for Mahalia during those lean years when she was just another young black girl in the South. Among principal heirs were relatives including her half-brother John Jackson and aunt Hannah Robinson. Neither ex-husband, Isaac Hockenhull (1936-1941) nor Sigmund Galloway (1964-1967), was noted in her will.[12]
== dasha life ==
Mahalia Jackson is widely regarded as the greatest gospel singer in history and one of the great voices of the twentieth century. Her music was never played widely on any but traditional gospel and traditional Christian radio stations. Her music was heard for decades on Family Radio. Her good friend Martin Luther King Jr said, "A voice like hers comes along once in a millenniumShe was a close friend of Doris Akers, one of the most prolific gospel composers of the 20th century. In 1958, they co-wrote the hit, "Lord, Don't Move The Mountain". Mahalia also sang many of Akers' own compositions such as, "God Is So Good To Me", "God Spoke To Me One Day", "Trouble", "Lead On, Lord Jesus", and "He's A Light Unto My Pathway", helping Doris to secure her position as the leading female Gospel composer of that time. In addition to sharing her singing talent with the world, she mentored the extraordinarily gifted Aretha Franklin. Mahalia was also good friends with Dorothy Norwood and fellow Chicago-based gospel singers. She also discovered a young Della Reese. Jackson was present at the opening night of Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music in December 1957.On the twentieth anniversary of her passing, Smithsonian Folkways Recording commemorated Jackson with the album, I Sing Because I'm Happy, which includes interviews about her childhood conducted by Jules Scherwin.
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences created the Gospel Music or Other Religious Recording category for Mahalia making her the first Gospel Music Artist to win the prestigious Grammy Award.
Among Mahalia's surviving relatives is her great-nephew, Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger.
A prominent namesake in her native New Orleans is the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts, which was remodeled and reopened on 2009 January 17 with a gala ceremony featuring Placido Domingo, Patricia Clarkson, and the New Orleans Opera directed by Robert Dyall.
[edit]
|
 |
 |