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“As many of you know already my beloved momma Miss Della Reese passed away peacefully last night at her home surrounded by love,” [Roma] Downey said in a statement. “She is now at rest and I am certain heaven has a brand new angel.”
~Deadline
Born Delloreese Early in 1931 to Richard Early, who was a steel worker, ladies’ man and a gambler and Nellie Mitchelle Early, a Cherokee cook, Della Reese began singing in church in her hometown of Detroit when she was six years old. Her vocal ability quickly attracted the attention of gospel great Mahalia Jackson, who hired Della as a back-up singer, Della was only 13. This early introduction to the world of gospel entertainment set the stage for Della’s own music legacy that has now spanned six decades and includes multiple Grammy Award nominations.
Her mother, Nellie, died in 1949, of a cerebral hemorrhage and after lots of feuds with her father, after her mother’s passing, she moved out of the house, at age 18. She graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan, in 1947, at only 15 years old to become the first in her family to graduate early. She intended to major in Psychiatry at Wayne State University, but a personal setback ended her plans. As a teenager, she was often chosen as a featured singer on radio. In 1953 she signed a singing contract with Jubilee Records, her first and later went on to sign a recording contract with RCA Records in 1957. She formed a choir in Detroit called The Meditation Singers.
Before she was a successful actress, she did everything from a very young age from first African-American actress to host a talk show long before Oprah Winfrey who was later to honour her at her Legends Ball ceremony along with 25 other African-American women, in 2005.
directing a young people’s choir in church, to being a truck driver, to being a dental receptionist, to that of a switchboard girl. Undeterred, Della held onto her dream and pursued her passion relentlessly, she became the
~GenesisMagz.com
Read More
http://genesismagz.com/diaspora-della-reese-touched-by-an-angel/
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