Albertina Walker

Albertina Walker (1929–2010) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and humanitarian born in Chicago, Illinois. She began singing at age four in the youth choir of West Point Missionary Baptist Church. In 1951, she founded the gospel group The Caravans, a move that launched the careers of several notable gospel artists, including Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, Dorothy Norwood, and James Cleveland. Walker became widely known as the “Queen of Gospel Music.” She also co-founded the Gospel Music Workshop of America alongside James Cleveland.

As a solo artist, Walker recorded several albums and songs, including Please Be Patient with Me (1979), Songs of the Church – Live in Memphis (1994), I Can Go to God in Prayer, The Best Is Yet to Come, I’m Still Here, and Joy Will Come. She also collaborated with The Sisters of Glory on Good News in Hard Times (1995) and reunited with The Caravans for Paved the Way (2006).

Walker’s work earned her a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album in 1995 for Songs of the Church – Live in Memphis, along with 12 career Grammy nominations and five Gold Records. In 2001, she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and in 2005 she received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The City of Chicago honored her by renaming a section of Cottage Grove Avenue “Albertina Walker and The Caravans Drive.” In 1988, she established the Albertina Walker Scholarship Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts to assist college students in music.