successful and produced royalties of over $300,000 for Mahalia in the first year alone. Mahalia was unaware the a woman by the name of Rosetta Tharp was a competitor of hers in the gospel field and had a contract previous to hers with Jukebox Berman. Tharp?s contract included veto power on any gospel competitor that Berman might want to sign. Mahalia was outraged but was forced to stop recording any jukebox numbers. That was not the last that Mahalia heard from Rosetta. The Golden Gate in Harlem was redesigned to an auditorium and became the mecca for gospel and jazz. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Rosetta Tharp, and Mahalia Jackson were star performers. (1) In 1951, Joe Bostic, Mahalia?s church agent decided to take a very big gamble. He wanted to expand his horizons for his gospel clients and rented Carnegie Hall. This gamble turned out to be a great success and every seat sold out! That evening broke all house records, including the ones set by Toscanini and Benny Goodman. By 1955, Mahalia was no longer working with Bess Berman?s Apollo Records, but had moved on to Columbia Records. Columbia Records called Mahalia ?the worlds greatest gospel singer?. (2) Working along side of Mahalia and also deserving much recognition is Mildred Falls, Mahalia?s pianist and organist. In the summer of 1951, Mahalia and Mildred were invited to attend the Music Inn, a prestigious summer school of the Greenwich community as guests of Mar...
