Mahalia Jackson (Conjuring Halie)

Cerys Matthews celebrates the life of Mahalia ("Halie") Jackson, who died in 1972, age 59. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers, inspiring singers like Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples and Whitney Houston. She travelled with Martin Luther King to the segregated south where he spoke including at the famous march on Washington.
In this programme Cerys talks to Sir Tom Jones also gospel singer Vermettya Royster and Reverend Stanley Keeble both of whom knew and played with Mahalia. We also hear archive recordings of the historian Studs Terkel talking with Mahalia in the years when they became close friends. He said she was one of the bravest people he'd ever met. We hear from blues and gospel writers Val Wilmer and Viv Broughton.