Influences: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born March 20th, 1915 and died October 9th, 1973. She was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and recording artist. A one-of-a-kind pioneer of 20th-century music, Tharpe attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings that were a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment. As the first recording artist to impact the music charts with her spiritual recordings, Tharpe became the first superstar of gospel music and also became known as "the original soul sister." She was a treasured early influence on iconic figures such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Johnny Cash. Willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her inspirational music of 'light' in the 'darkness' of the nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind her, Tharpe's witty, idiosyncratic style also left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists, such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of the Dixie Hummingbirds. While she offended some conservative churchgoers with her forays into the world of pop music, she never left gospel music.

Tharpe's 1944 hit "Down By The Riverside" was selected for the American Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2004, stating that it captured her "spirited guitar playing" and "unique vocal style" which were an influence on early rhythm and blues performers, as well as gospel, jazz and rock artists. Tharpe has been called the Godmother of Rock n' Roll.

She was born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, United States, to parents Katie Bell Nubin and Willis Atkins who were cotton pickers. Little is known of her father, although it is known that he was a singer. In 1921, Bell left Atkins to become a travelling evangelist for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).

Tharpe began performing at the age of four, billed as "Little Rosetta Nubin, the singing and guitar playing miracle," accompanying her mother who played mandolin and preached at tent revivals throughout the South. Exposed to both blues and jazz both in the South and after her family moved to Chicago in the late 1920s, she played blues and jazz in private, while performing gospel music in public settings. Her unique style reflected those secular influences. She bent notes the way blues and jazz artists did and picked guitar like Memphis Minnie.

Tharpe also crossed over to secular music in other ways. In 1934, Tharpe married COGIC preacher Thomas Thorpe (from which "Tharpe" is a misspelling). The marriage was not a happy one with Thorpe being described as "a tyrant." In 1938, Tharpe left her husband and moved with her mother to New York City.

On October 31, 1938, at age 23, Tharpe recorded for the first time - four sides with Decca Records backed by "Lucky" Millinder's jazz orchestra. She had signed a seven-year contract with Millinder and was managed by Mo Galye. Her records caused an immediate furor: many churchgoers were shocked by the mixture of sacred and secular music, but secular audiences loved them. Appearances in John Hammond's extravaganza "From Spirituals To Swing" that later that year at the Cotton Club and Café Society and with Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman made her even more popular. Songs like "This Train" and "Rock Me," which combined gospel themes with bouncy up-tempo arrangements, became smash hits among audiences with little previous exposure to gospel music. It has been suggested Tharpe had little choice in the material she was contracted to record with Millinder. Her nightclub performances led to her initially being ostracised by some in the gospel community, as she would sometimes be required to sing her gospel songs amid scantily clad showgirls. She played on a number of occasions with the white singing group The Jordanaires. Tharpe continued recording during World War II, one of only two gospel artists able to record V-discs for troops overseas. Her song "Strange Things Happening Every Day", recorded in 1944 with Sammy Price, Decca's house boogie woogie pianist, showcased her virtuosity as a guitarist and her witty lyrics and delivery. It was also the first gospel song to make Billboard's Harlem Hit Parade (later known as Race Records, then R&B) Top Ten - something that Sister Rosetta Tharpe accomplished several more times in her career. The record has been credited by some as being the "First rock and roll record." Tharpe toured throughout the 1940s, backed by various gospel quartets, including The Dixie Hummingbirds.

After the war Decca paired her with Marie Knight, a sanctified shouter with a strong contralto and a more subdued style than Tharpe. Their hit "Up Above My Head" showed both of them to great advantage. Knight provided the response to Tharpe in traditional call and response format then took the role that would have been assigned to a bass in a male quartet after Tharpe's solo. It has been reported that it was an "open secret," in show business circles that Knight and Tharpe were lovers. They toured the gospel circuit for a number of years, during which Tharpe was so popular that she attracted 25,000 paying customers to her wedding to her manager Russell Morrison (her third marriage), followed by a vocal performance, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. in 1951.

Their popularity took a sudden downturn, however, when they recorded several blues songs in the early 1950s. Knight attempted afterwards to cross over to popular music, while Tharpe remained in the church, but rebuffed by many of her former fans. In 1957, Tharpe was booked for a month-long tour of the UK by British trombonist Chris Barber.

In April – May 1964, at the height of a surge of popular interest in the blues, she toured Europe as part of the Blues and Gospel Caravan, alongside Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, Ranson Knowling and Little Willie Smith, Reverend Gary Davis, Cousin Joe and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Tharpe was introduced on stage and accompanied on piano by Cousin Joe Pleasant. Under the auspices of George Wein, the Caravan was stage-managed by Joe Boyd. A concert, in the rain, was recorded by Granada Television at the disused railway station at Wilbraham Road, Manchester in May 1964. The band performed on one platform while the audience were seated on the opposite platform.

Tharpe's performances were curtailed by a stroke in 1970, after which she had a leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes. She died in 1973 after another stroke, on the eve of a scheduled recording session. She was buried in Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in an unmarked grave.

A resurgence in interest in her legendary work has led to a biography, several NPR segments, scholarly articles and honors. The United States Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative stamp to honor Rosetta Tharpe on July 15, 1998. In 2007, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2008, a concert was held to raise funds for a marker for her grave and January 11 was declared Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day in Pennsylvania. A gravestone was put in place later that year and a Pennsylvania historical marker was approved for placement at her home in the Yorktown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

A number of musicians, ranging from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to Isaac Hayes and Aretha Franklin, have identified her singing, guitar playing and showmanship as an important influence on them. Little Richard referred to the stomping, shouting gospel music legend as his favorite singer when he was a child. In 1945, she heard Richard sing prior to her concert at the Macon City Auditorium and later invited him on stage to sing with her. Following the show, she paid him for his performance. Johnny Cash also referred to Tharpe as his favorite singer when he was a child when he gave his induction speech at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. His daughter Rosanne similarly stated in an interview with Larry King that Tharpe was her father's favorite singer. She was held in particularly high esteem by UK jazz/blues singer George Melly. Even today, artists such as Sean Michel have credited her influence with the performance of gospel songs in more secular venues.
Brixton band Alabama 3 (of Sopranos theme fame) named a track after Sister Rosetta on their debut album Exile on Coldharbour Lane (1997), as well as recording a version of her song Up Above My Head. In 2007, UK indie rock band The Noisettes released the single "Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)" from their album What's the Time Mr. Wolf? Also in 2007, singers Alison Krauss and Robert Plant recorded a duet version of the song "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us," written by Sam Phillips. Phillips released her version of the song on her 2008 album, Don't Do Anything. Michelle Shocked opened her live gospel album ToHeavenURide (2007) with "Strange Things Happening Every Day," along with a tribute to Tharpe.

In 2001, the award-winning French film Amélie included a scene showing the protagonist's house-bound neighbor mesmerized by a montage of video clips which featured a performance of "Up Above My Head" by Tharpe.




Source: Wikipedia

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