"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."
In 1927,
her family moved from the South to New Orleans as part of the Great
Migration. She began singing in church
and eventually began recording in 1931.
Her
signature:
Take My Hand,
Precious Lord:
She signed
with Decca in 1937 and Apollo in 1948.
Move Up A Little
Higher (1948) sold 8
million copies:
Amazing Grace
(1947):
Go Tell It On The
Mountain (1950):
How I Got Over
(1951):
She sang at
JFK’s Inaugural Ball and at the March on Washington:
She died in
1972.
