Sigmond Galloway is the ex-husband of American gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson. Mahalia had an astounding career as a gospel singer in the 20th century as she sold an estimated 22 million records. She is said to have played a very important role in the spread of gospel blues then. As a great vocal influence, she achieved unexpected success at a time when racism and segregation were rampant in America.
Sigmond Galloway was also, in his own way, a singer. He was tilted towards the Jazz genre of music. Galloway is a native of Northern Indiana and began to do music from there.
Sigmond Galloway’s Marriage To Mahalia Jackson
Sigmond Galloway met his ex-wife Mahalia Jackson in 1964 through mutual friends. They met at a time when Jackson’s schedule and work were very crazy and hectic. They did not know each other for long before getting married.
Jackson had a lot of friends, family, and colleagues but she still felt lonely and so she found solace in Sigmond. Soon they began to court and after a short period of time, they got married. The wedding took place in Jackson’s living room to the shock of all her friends and family.
What Led To Their Divorce?
Mahalia Jackson had effects and symptoms of a heart-related problem from 1952. Her European tour had to be postponed at that time and over 10 years later, she still suffered. Her doctors revealed that she had suffered from a heart attack and that Sarcoidosis had spread to her heart.
She got to know about this after she checked herself into a hospital when she had a bout of incessant coughs. This occurrence happened one night while she was driving home after a concert in St. Louis, a few weeks after her wedding.
Mrs. Jackson and her doctors hid the real truth from the public. The public diagnosis given was that she suffered from weariness and heart strain. Unfortunately, her symptoms only worsened and she couldn’t go on tours. She had to take a full year in order to recover fully.
Through her recovery process, Mahalia lost about 23kg of weight and became so frail. This frustrated her as she felt she was incapable of doing some things. However, the most heartbreaking part of her recovery was that she spent it without her companion. Sigmond was rarely around and available during this year of her recovery. Upon his unreliability, he also downplayed his wife’s symptoms insisting they were all in her head.
To further make things worse, Galloway tried to take over managerial duties from Jackson’s promoters and agents. Knowing how incompetent he was, it was unclear what his motive was. This led to arguments between the couple and on two occasions, Jackson’s husband attempted to be physically violent. The jazz musician broke his hand in the second attempt. Mahalia dodged as he threw his hand at her and he hit against a piece of furniture.
This incident marked the beginning of the end of their marriage. Jackson announced that she was getting a divorce from Sigmond. Her husband, in a bid to embarrass her by washing their dirty linen in public, insisted on having a court case proceeding for the divorce. Ironically, this decision backfired on him and his infidelities were brought to light. The court then ruled in favor of Mrs. Jackson and offered him no remuneration on Mahalia’s properties and assets.
In 1967, three years after getting married, they finally finished up the case and got divorced.
Here Are Other Facts About Sigmond Galloway And His Marriage To Mahalia Jackson
1. His Music Career Seemed To Not Have Lasted For Long
Sigmond Galloway Minters was a Jazz musician in Northern Indiana born in 1923. He reportedly had a career in playing Jazz music however, the career seemed to have ended before 1964.
As of the time he met his ex-wife Mahalia, he worked in the construction industry. He was still living in Gary, Indiana though, but his path with music had shifted at the time.
2. His Ex-Wife Was Married Before
Prior to her marriage to the jazz singer, the gospel singer was married and divorced. Mahalia married a college-educated entrepreneur known as Isaac Hockenhull in 1936.
Marrying Isaac proved to be a bad idea for Mahalia and her purpose in life as advised her to quit her gospel songs and dedication to the church. Isaac wanted Jackson to begin performing more secular songs which she refused to. This refusal was the base of their eventual fallout. 5 years after their wedding, by 1941, they got divorced.
3. His Wife Had A Close Relationship With Martin Luther King
The ‘Queen of Gospel Music’ met with the famous radical activists of the 20th Century, Martin Luther King in 1956. They met for the very first time at the National Baptist Convention that year.
Mahalia and Martin continued to meet at other occasions and events where Martin gave an account of a dream he had which later became an integral part of his famous speech. Eventually, he asked Mahalia to join him at civil rights events. This she obliged to and became an undeniable factor to his famous August 28 1963 speech.
She was the one who instigated him to talk about his dream in front of Lincoln Memorial that day even though it wasn’t part of his speech. Mahalia, got him to talk about the dream when from the crowd, at the top of her voice, asked him to talk about it. This did not only change the course of his speech but at the same time, gave birth to one of the most powerful speeches ever.
The two continued to work closely and obliged each other’s requests when the need arose.
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4. Did Sigmond and Jackson Have Kids Together?
Mahalia Jackson had no kids. Not with the former Jazz musician nor with her first husband. She had health challenges that prevented her from having kids. As Jackson battled with fibrosis and sarcoidosis, she had to have a hysterectomy and so couldn’t bear kids of her own.
5. His Ex-wife’s Death
Sigmond Galloway’s ex-wife, Mahalia Jackson is also known as the Queen of Gospel Music died of a heart attack. She died on the 27th of January 1972 to the shock of a lot of people. Even though it was public knowledge that she was ill, she still tried to perform at concerts and so people never knew it was so serious.
Mahalia Jackson’s death happened 5 years after her divorce from Sigmond.
