Sister Rosetta Tharpe is a true pioneer of 20th century Rock n’ Roll. Early Rock n’ Roll musicians such as Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis have cited her as an influence in their music. She mesmerised audiences with her unique electric guitar playing styles and soulful voice. Her powerful performances were always leaving a strong meaningful message for her audience.
On 20th March 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Rosetta Nubin was born. Her parents were cotton pickers and both were also singers. She was specially close to her mother, Katie Bell Nubin. Her mother was a mandolin player and a passionate evangelist preacher for her the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Her mother’s strong, fearless attitude had much influence on Rosetta as “she (her mother) would take her guitar, she would take her chair, her tambourine, she would sit outside and play and try to convert them and try to get them to go to church” (Ira 5:27) Rosetta was thus heavily involved in the church, and gospel music hugely influenced Rosetta.
At a tender age of 4, Rosetta had already begun performing in COGIC as Little Rosetta Nubin with her mother onstage, playing the guitar and singing. At her age, she was a singing and guitar playing miracle. By age 6, Rosetta and her mother had left Cotton Plant and moved to Chicago. They performed at the COGIC in the 40th street, occasionally travelling to various parts of the country, performing for church conventions.
In Chicago, the church was bubbling with blues and jazz musicians due to migrants from Mississippi Delta and New Orleans. Rosetta was “exposed to something new, it was not rural. It was an urban kind of religious singing.” (Anthony 7:24) It was then she started to gain significant fame and became the main attraction, “charming audiences with her talent and precociousness.” (Gayle 7:45)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was also gifted in being able to play various instruments. Even before she turned 10, she was an all-purpose musician, “she would play the guitar and if the people would get happy afterwards and shout, she would drop her guitar, and run to the piano and accompany them with her piano chords. Then she might get up and cut a couple of dance steps herself. She was a phenomenal show-woman.” (Anthony 8:09). She had continued to perform all over the country throughout her teenage years, charming audiences with her showmanship. She soon became a nationwide celebrity within gospel music.
In 1934, at just 19 years of age, Rosetta was married off by her mother to Tommy Thorpe, a preacher in COGIC. They had worked together for the church where Rosetta will be responsible in performing and drawing in the crowd, whereas Tommy would preach. Accounts had been that Tommy had been a tyrant to her and had used her in favour for the church. (Anthony) Being the strong fearless spirit she is, Rosetta decided to leave the marriage after four years and since moved to New York with her mother to start a new life. Despite the ending of the short marriage, Rosetta had continued to use Tommy Thorpe’s last name, changing it to “Tharpe” and performed as “Sister Rosetta Tharpe” all her life.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe had spent all her life in Church singing Gospel music, bringing people closer to Jesus. In 1938 when she was 23-years-old, there was a 180 degrees shift in Rosetta when in New York. She had gotten a gig at Cotton Club, a fancy night club in New York. She started singing secular music with lyrics that pleased men such as the song “Four Five Times”. Her fans from church were greatly disappointed however, Rosetta loved performing secular music. She then decided to continue to perform secular music in night clubs, at the same time, perform gospel music in churches as well. This caused a lot of confusion among people with the image that she is trying to portray.
Later on in same year, she was signed by Decca. She also chose to work with bandleader Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra. Her first hit “Rock Me” was a huge hit. The gospel lyrics were changed to suit the secular audience, in a way that is sexually suggestive. Her next hit was titled “Tall Skinny Papa”. She had continued to try to appeal to the secular audience despite the songs being far from her roots of gospel music. Those songs caused a huge controversy in the church community.
Following the risqué hits, she released great gospel hits, such as “The Lonesome Road” and “This Train” that won back the hearts of the church community. She blended the uptempo showbiz style into the gospel songs and inspired people to perform gospel music in a more upbeat way. Having a rebellious spirit and being someone who loved to perform, Rosetta had gained new fans in the secular world, while continuing to charm audiences within the church. Her fans had gotten over her drastic change and loved her songs regardless of what she would sing because she was simply a great performer.
By age 25, Rosetta was considered a huge superstar. She was a trailblazer, being a successful woman performer in an industry that had been triumphed by men at that time. She performed with then-mainstream superstars like Cab Calloway. She also gained a lot of creative control as to what she wanted to sing where she didn’t have prior. She sang gospel songs in night clubs in her own upbeat way and had exposed gospel music to secular crowds. Amidst of her performance, scantily-clad women danced along with her songs. Her performances were controversial yet revolutionary. However, by that time, Rosetta had become the first Gospel superstar and her hits could be heard in radios everywhere. Though the gospel community was on the fence with what she was doing, she earned a lot of money, was very well-known and many of her fans admired her deeply.
Throughout the 1940s, she was on tour with several acts such The Dixie Hummingbirds and The Jordanaires. Performing with the Jordanaires was quite a special decision she made as they were a bunch of white men and she was black. In that era, where there was still a big separation amongst races, it was taboo to have blacks and whites performing together. However, being someone who is pioneer, defying conventions, she was very happy with the arrangement. While on tour, she had her own tour bus. Many restaurants had served white people, so the band members from The Jordanaires had no issue getting food, whereas Rosetta often had to eat in the tour bus instead. Being the superstar she is then and throughout the time she performed with the Jordanaires, she had shocked her audiences and at the same time opened up their minds to the idea that the separation between the blacks and whites is caused by unnecessary prejudice.
During World War II, Rosetta was one of the two artists – besides The Dixie Hummingbirds – to record a V-disc for the black soldiers. During the ending of the war in 1944, Rosetta had released a song called “Strange Things Happening Everyday” which would be the most popular hit of her career. The song had entered the Billboard R&B charts, peaking at number 2. It was the first gospel song to crossover into the pop charts. That song was also dubbed as the precursor to rock and roll. Also, by then, Rosetta had been in affairs with several men and women, including a marriage and divorce to a promoter named Fosh Allen.
In 1946, Rosetta saw Marie Knight perform for the first time. Marvelled by her voice, she had asked for Marie Knight to collaborate with her and to go on tour with her. They released a version of the gospel song “Up Above My Head” and it became widely popular. The duo worked well together as Marie played the piano and percussions while Rosetta could play the guitar and piano. They did not need any other band member to accompany them other than themselves in their performances. There was also a special blend in their voices that made the songs beautiful and unique in their own styles. It was known to the people around them that they were in a romantic relationship. In 1950, after hearing news that Marie’s mother had passed away in a fire, Marie became devastated and left Rosetta on tour alone. Despite the break-up, they had remained friends for life.
Rosetta had made several outrageous decisions throughout her life. However, in the following year of 1951, Rosetta pulled another one that would shock not only people around her, but her fans as well. She was getting married in front of a stadium of fans and it was a publicity stunt. She did not know who the groom would be, until weeks before the wedding, when Russell Morrison a minor musician had offered to both be her groom and manager.
25, 000 paying fans attended the ceremony in Washington DC sports stadium, together with Rosetta’s close friends. It was like a real wedding ceremony, where there was a minister to marry the two people together. Fans brought Rosetta wedding gifts such as crystals, television set, and dishes. However, it was also an entertaining show, where fans paid for the entry to see the fairytale-like wedding and after which, Rosetta would perform in her wedding dress like a concert. In this third marriage, many of her close friends had felt that Russell was over-controlling, leeching off Rosetta’s talent and was two-timing her. Despite that, she remained married to Russell for the rest of her life.