Basic Facts
Born: March 20, 1915, Cotton Plant, Arkansas
Died: October 9, 1973, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Type of Performer: Guitarist, singer, songwriter
Genre: Rock n' Roll
Awards:
- Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, 2008
About Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The "Godmother of Rock n' Roll" was born Rosetta Nubin in Arkansas in 1915. She grew up in a family of religious singers, cotton pickers, and evangelists, and she started playing guitar at the age of 4. By age 6 she was accompanying her mother who was touring with an evangelist group around the South. She and her mother later moved to Chicago, where Tharpe developed her signature sound - a mix of Delta blues, New Orleans jazz, and gospel. Throughout her teenage years, she traveled and toured around the country as a gospel musician. She gain notoriety as a guitar player who could make the instrument "talk." Despite the obstacles she faced as a Black woman in the early 1900s, and even more so as a musician who dabbled in both gospel and secular music, by 1938 she landed a spot at the Cotton Club Revue in New York.
Tharpe toured and collaborated with artists like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and in 1941 she began traveling with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra. Because of segregationists policies, she often had to sleep on the tour bus instead of hotels and pick up food at restaurants through the back door. She continued to gain fame, however, especially among black soldiers during WWII. After the war, she worked with Sammy Price and released the single, "Strange Things Happen Everyday," which became the first gospel song to reach the Top 10 on the R&B charts. In this way, she became America's first gospel superstar. Her guitar prowess especially made a lasting mark on the development of rock n' roll.
Tharpe never shied away from controversial actions, especially so when she met her partner, Marie Knight, in the 1940s and the two started touring as a couple (along with their band) in the late 1940s. They retained control over their business decisions, which was almost unheard of at the time. They split in 1950, and Tharpe's popularity began to dwindle. Around the same time, white men began experimenting with the sounds she had created and called it rock n' roll. Tharpe began touring in Europe in 1957, and she gave one of her most iconic performances ever in 1964 in Manchester. She performed the gospel song "Didn't It Rain" to kick off her show at a crowded train platform. She continued touring in Europe, but returned to Philadelphia just before her death in 1973.
Listen
Didn't It Rain, performed in Manchester, 1964
Rock Me, recorded for Decca Records
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