<Ul> <Li> Mahalia Jackson </Li> <Li> Erskine Hawkins </Li> <Li> Albertina Walker </Li> <Li> Aretha Franklin </Li> <Li> Dorothy Norwood </Li> <Li> Cissy Houston </Li> </Ul> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> dellareese.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931--November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades . Reese's long career began as a singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You Know?". In the late--1960s, Reese hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 197 episodes . She also starred in films beginning in 1975, including playing opposite Redd Foxx in Harlem Nights (1989), Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Elliott Gould in Expecting Mary (2010). She achieved continuing success in the television religious supernatural drama Touched by an Angel (1994--2003), in which Reese played the leading role of Tess . </P> <P> Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931, in the historic Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, to Richard Thaddeus Early, an African American steelworker, and Nellie (Mitchelle), a Native American cook of the Cherokee tribe . Her mother had had several children before Reese's birth, none of whom lived with her; hence, Reese grew up as an only child . At six years old, Reese began singing in church . From this experience, she became an avid gospel singer . On weekends in the 1940s, she and her mother would go to the movies independently to watch the likes of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Lena Horne portray glamorous lives on screen . Afterwards, Reese would act out the scenes from the films . In 1944, she began her career directing the young people's choir, after she had nurtured acting plus her obvious musical talent . She was often chosen, on radio, as a regular singer . At the age of 13, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson's gospel group . Delloreese entered Detroit's popular Cass Technical High School (where she attended the same year as Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as Ellen Burstyn). She also continued with her touring with Jackson . With higher grades, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school in 1947, at only 15 . </P>

Who played tess on touched by an angel