Albertina Walker

Albertina Walker (b. August 29, 1929) is an African-American gospel singer who is known as the "Queen of Gospel Music".Walker was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She began singing in the youth choir at the West Point Missionary Baptist Church at an early age, and joined several Gospel groups thereafter, including The Pete Williams Singers and the Robert Anderson Singers. Albertina was greatly influenced by Mahalia Jackson, her friend and confidant.In the early 1950s Walker founded her own gospel group The Caravans, enlisting fellow singers from The Robert Anderson Singers (Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey and Nellie Grace Daniels). The Caravans soon became one of the most popular Gospel groups of all time, and it's flunctuating membership has included gospel superstars: Rev. James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Evangelist Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, Loleatta Holloway, Cassietta George, and Delores Washington. Walker's discovery of talent via The Caravans earned her the title "The Star Maker". Walker retired The Caravans in the late 1960s and went on to phenominal success as a solo artist.In the mid 1970s, Walker signed with