Before Beyonce’ and Taylor There Was Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Fifty Years Later…Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 — October 9, 1973)
She was the Beyonce’ of her time. The Taylor Swift of her time. The Lady Gaga of her time. All wrapped up in one individual. A maestro musician who was all things to all people. She was an evangelical performer and musical pioneer; among the first to shred an electric guitar and travel by tour bus, launching a career leading to “The Godmother of Rock & Roll.”
“When you talked about Rosetta Tharpe you talked about a ball of energy. This woman would come out on the stage, she’d have people laughing, she’d talk to them in a way that was almost like she was related to them. And when she finished her act they were standing. You know, they would love this woman. And she was a lovable person.” — Ira Tucker, the Dixie Hummingbirds
Rosetta Tharpe was gospel music’s first superstar, its original crossover artist, and the first musician to make gospel popular beyond the sphere of the Northern churches where it originated. Her ringing soprano and guitar virtuosity set her apart from other greats of gospel’s Golden Age. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas (1915), the guitar prodigy began playing publicly at age six in Chicago, soon developing into a powerful musician with a charismatic stage presence. She brought spiritual music into the mainstream with a blend of blues, jazz, big band, and rhythm & blues.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the first gospel performer to record for a major label when she signed with Decca. A 1939 feature article in Life Magazine described her as “Moving the Saints on Sunday, and entertaining the big spenders on Monday.” She gave new meaning to Thomas A. Dorsey’s traditional songs, with her composition and arrangements of “This Train” and “Rock Me,” both huge hits. Her 1945 recording of “Strange Things Happening Every Day” with Sammy Price is mentioned as one of the earliest examples of rock and roll.
Rosetta’s appearance at Carnegie Hall for the historic “From Spirituals to Swing” concert in 1938 brought her talent to the forefront, resulting in a string of hit records with bandleader Lucky Millinder, including “Shout Sister Shout,” “Trouble in Mind,” “The Lonesome Road,” and “I Want a Tall Skinny Papa.” She appeared at the Cotton Club, Apollo Theatre, and Café Society in New York.
Rosetta toured and recorded with Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Red Foley, and The Jordanaires. Her collaborations with Marie Knight formed one of gospel’s biggest acts. In the late 1940s, Rosetta, Marie, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and Ward Singers toured together breaking box office records as they packed every arena in the South. She staged one of the first stadium concerts, when she celebrated her wedding in 1951 at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. with twenty-thousand spectators in attendance!
Get Robert L Merz’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Rosetta Tharpe’s popularity was so great that she was only one of two gospel acts (along with the Golden Gate Quartet) to record V-Discs for U.S. troops overseas during World War II. She was one of the first major gospel singers to tour Europe, joining Chris Barber’s Jazz Band in England during 1957. Ottilie Patterson, a vocalist with the Barber Band, recalls Rosetta’s immediate impact: “It was quite astounding, the first time we heard her, there wasn’t a person in the band who hadn’t wiped their eyes for tears.”
She headlined Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 1948, and in 1958 Rosetta performed at The Cavern Club in Liverpool days before John Lennon’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, with new members Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Rosetta continued her travelling abroad in the 1960s, touring, France, Monte Carlo, Germany, Denmark Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and other countries.
Her innovative guitar playing helped spark the British blues revival and onset of 1960s popular music. Her UK tours on the “Gospel & Blues Caravan” with Muddy Waters during the early 60’s caught the attention of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Jeff Beck. From a broad perspective, the musicians who cite her as a major influence include; Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Etta James, and Bonnie Raitt.
In 1961, Rosetta bought a house in the newly developed Yorktown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Her mother, the gospel singer and evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, would spend many hours with her guitar and amp set up in front of Speedy’s bar on 15th and Columbia working to save souls. Sister Rosetta joined Bright Hope Baptist Church, the prominent and politically active North Philadelphia congregation led by Pastor, Reverend William H. Gray, Jr., the former College President and friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. When not working, Rosetta loved to go fishing with her friends, and would rent a party boat for the day in Cape May, NJ.
There is the celebrated story of Rosetta during the summer of 1959. Rosetta and steel guitarist, Willie Eason were featured on an event billed as “The Biggest Battle of Songs and Guitars Ever to be Held!” The concert took place on a cruise ship docked at the Chestnut Street Wharf in Philadelphia. The packed ship was set to sail the Delaware River for a moonlit cruise, but it never left port. The revelers on board were so enthralled with the rocking music that they never realized the ship had not cruised!
Rosetta performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967 and toured Europe into the 1970’s. Despite a battle with diabetes and the loss of a leg in the winter of 1971, she never stopped performing. Her triumph over adversity culminated in a final performance on July 26, 1972, at Lincoln Center’s “Soul at the Center” in New York.
In 1998, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s musical contributions were recognized, when the United States Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor (along with Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward, and Roberta Martin). She is a member of the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and Blues Hall of Fame. In 2018, Rosetta Tharpe was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2020 was honored by The Recording Academy with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Today, Sister Rosetta Tharpe rests at Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia. Her inscription reads:
“She Would Sing Until You Cried; And Then She Would Sing Until You Danced For Joy; She Helped to Keep The Church Alive And The Saints Rejoicing”
