Martin Luther King Jr. (bottom right) listens to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.
Bob Parent/Getty Images
As the “Queen” of gospel music, Mahalia Jackson sang two songs during the historic March on Washington. But her most famous line may have been a suggestion to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jesus is King has polarised discussion. But this genuinely contemporary album will challenge the traditional concept of African American gospel while influencing its shape for years to come.
Aretha Franklin performs at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in 1989.
AP Photo/Mario Suriani
When record executives tried to mold Franklin’s sound to their liking, her career sputtered. Then legendary producer Jerry Wexler came along. His approach? Stay out of her way.
Aretha Franklin performing in 1978. The gospel singer died in Detroit on Thursday aged 76.
Lee McDonald/Las Vegas News Bureau handout
For the enslaved Africans, music – rhythm in particular – became a tool of communication about their conditions. Later, it laid the foundation for spirituals and gospel songs.
Oak Grove Acapella Singers, a Gospel group of Chester County, Tennessee, being recorded while singing in the office of the preacher at the Oak Grove Church of Christ.
Tennessee State Library and Archives