Mahalia Jackson
Contralto · Gospel · Blues · USA · prominent since 1947
What is Mahalia Jackson’s vocal range?
Mahalia Jackson's vocal range is commonly cited as E3 to F5 — about 2.1 octaves, or 25 semitones, and is usually classified as contralto. Full voice is cited up to around D5; everything above that comes from head voice.
Chest-heavy contralto; slides into pitches and stretches syllables instead of landing them squarely. That cited span is wider than 13% of the 357 voices in this library.
- Signature song
- Take My Hand, Precious Lord
Reading the numbers
- Full voice is cited to within 3 semitones of the top note, so this reads as a chest-dominant voice rather than one that flips into a lighter register.
- 1 other voice here carries the identical cited range — at the resolution these figures are quoted in, those voices are indistinguishable on the chart.
- Prominent from 1947, earlier than all but 12 voices in this library.
- Ranked by bottom note, it is the 257th lowest of the 357 voices here; by top note, the 195th highest.
Commonly cited figures, not lab measurements — extreme notes are one-off recorded moments, not the singer’s everyday range.
Take the free 2-minute range test — your mic finds your lowest and highest notes, then this page shows exactly how your voice lines up with Mahalia Jackson’s.
Also bottoming out on E3
39 other voices here are cited to the same floor.
Also topping out on F5
18 other voices here reach the same ceiling.