Della Reese

The Touched by an Angel star recounts how, at age 13, she came to be hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson’s gospel group. “Mahalia came to our church, and she had a group of singers with her. And one of the singers was pregnant. But nobody knew she was pregnant,” she tells Reel Ladies on the Spot host Nikki Love. “And at that time we had no air conditioning in the church, and the lady fainted. Well, Mahalia was on her way to the South and the pregnant singer’s husband would not allow her to go to the South because, at that time, it was difficult for a black person to get service in a hospital. And he didn’t want to risk the lives of his wife and his child. So the pastors of the church asked my mother if I could go with Mahalia to replace this woman.”