Albertina Walker (1929-2010), Grammy Award-Winning "Queen of Gospel" from Chicago with Five Gold Records

[The Hersch]

I never had the pleasure to hear Albertina Walker in person, but listening to her recordings I came to feel that I knew her. She was one for the ages. She died in 2010, and was mourned across the gospel and r and b world. Aretha Franklin was one of many artists who sang at Albertina's funeral.

I am not a Christian, and I don't believe in God, but I can really appreciate the kind of religious ecstasy that can be found in Albertina Walker's singing, as here: