Ann nesby as mahalia jackson

[glencro]

Never heard about this play but wow she really captures the essence of the late great MAHALIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsYA6zRcMNk

[kenneth]

Wow!

I just saw the Lana Turner film "Imitation of Life" on TCM about a week or so ago, in which Mahalia sings this song at the funeral of Juanita Moore. Really, both are terrific performances, Mahalia's and this lady's.

I appreciate that Nesby doesn't try to imitate Jackson's voice, but rather, employs the same unusual phrasing that Mahalia often utilized. But on the "weeping and wailing" parts, Nesby actually might even out sing Jackson, at least compared to Jackson's recording of the same song!

I'd like to hear more about this lady. Great discovery, glencro!

[sansradio]

Wow!

I just saw the Lana Turner film "Imitation of Life" on TCM about a week or so ago, in which Mahalia sings this song at the funeral of Juanita Moore. Really, both are terrific performances, Mahalia's and this lady's.

I appreciate that Nesby doesn't try to imitate Jackson's voice, but rather, employs the same unusual phrasing that Mahalia often utilized. But on the "weeping and wailing" parts, Nesby actually might even out sing Jackson, at least compared to Jackson's recording of the same song!

I'd like to hear more about this lady. Great discovery, glencro!

Ann Nesby is best known as the frontwoman of the Minneapolis-based gospel/R&B group Sounds of Blackness; you may remember their big R&B hit "Optimistic" from 1991. She is the mother of singer Jamecia Bennett and grandmother of "American Idol" contestant Paris Bennett. Nesby is one of the few gospel powerhouse vocalists my late mother really appreciated. After attending a Sounds show, my mother uncharacteristically gushed, "That woman knows she can sing!"