R2OK!

becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6782

Radio 4
30 mins

I was shocked to hear in this programme that Mahalia carried a gun to make sure some promotors didn't weasel out of their deals with her..... Shocked

Perhaps the shock is a British thing ....I remember, from the radio programme about him, Wilson Pickett carried one too and wasn't averse to using it to threaten people with it either....

Cerys Matthews celebrates the life of one of her musical heroines, the great gospel singer Mahalia ("Halie") Jackson, who died in 1972. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world at the height of her popularity, inspiring singers like Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples. But she was also one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in America, described by the legendary historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel as one of the bravest people he'd ever met.

As a child she suffered illness, poverty and deprivation. The Church was her shelter. During the late 1920s, at the height of the great migration, she toured Illinois performing in churches. But it was in Chicago that she made her name and carved out a place for herself as the first professional gospel singer.......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvn23