Wendy Raquel Robinson Almost Sang in ‘Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story’ | Watch

*“Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story” is beginning its festival run and the cast of the film are making their rounds!

The star-studded ensemble includes Ledisi as Mahalia Jackson, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Keith David, Janet Hubert, Corbin Bleu, and Columbus Short.

In the film, Robinson plays Jackson’s manager, assistant, and friend all wrapped in one. 

“Remember Me” also touches on Jackson’s involvement in Dr. Martin Luther King’s movement.

“When you talk Dr. King and you talk Mahalia Jackson, you have to speak in truth,” Robinson said. “He was our Barack Obama of that day but even more so because they were friends.”

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Robinson also shared that one thing she learned about Jackson was she was “uncompromising.” 

“It wasn’t about the money,” Robinson said. “It made sense. That’s the power of no and that’s the power of Mahalia that really separated her from so many artists at that time. If Jesus or God or the gospel according to the truth, if it wasn’t there, there was no need for her to be there. I could do nothing but respect that.”

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Robinson also shared how she was originally supposed to sing a number with Jackson’s character, however, it didn’t happen.

“There was a moment where I was supposed to sing “Precious Lord” at the end,” Robinson said. “I was like, ‘WHEW!’ Cause I don’t sing. [The director] was like ‘Wendy, we want you to sing that last verse after Mahalia dies and sing it with her.’ But I was taking it to the extreme, I was gonna SING. [Then] it was like no, no, because we were very emotional.”

Being a part of this film helped “humanize” Jackson for Robinson who got to hear personal stories about the gospel legend from someone close to her family.

“My vocal coach Ricky Vermont, I was working with him, come to find out his mother was Mahalia’s pianist for years,” Robinson said. “So that took me down a whole other walk, in just getting the personal stories. Mahalia coming over – because she loved to cook. So I got all of the personal stories. They would do Easter and Christmas. She was Auntie Halia to them. It really humanized her for me. I was able to see the woman she was as well as my character.”

“Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story” debuted at the Pan African Film & Arts Festival yesterday. 

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