Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Active years

• Active 1938 to 1973
• Gospel, 1938 to 1943
• Gospel, 1944 to 1973
• R&B / Soul, 1944 to 1950

The journey

Platforms

1. Gospel1938 to 1943

   1Decca, the Cotton Club and the swing bands

   Raised in the Church of God in Christ and playing guitar in public from the age of six, Tharpe signed to Decca in 1938 and cut "Rock Me" and "That's All" with a swing band behind her. That December she appeared at John Hammond's "From Spirituals to Swing" at Carnegie Hall, and she took the same repertoire into the Cotton Club, which parts of the church never forgave. From 1941 she toured with Lucky Millinder's orchestra, singing sacred words over a dance band.

   Key album: Rock Me, 1938

   1. 1938Single

      Rock Me

      Her first Decca session, in October 1938, with Lucky Millinder's band behind her: a gospel song with a swing beat, a hit outside the church.

      Find on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Find on Apple Music (opens in a new tab)Find on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

      Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (opens in a new tab)

   2. 1938Performance

      From Spirituals to Swing, Carnegie Hall

      John Hammond's concert of 23 December 1938 put her on the same bill as Count Basie and Big Joe Turner, playing gospel to a secular hall.

      Source: Wikipedia, From Spirituals to Swing (opens in a new tab)

   3. 1941Collaboration

      On the road with Lucky Millinder

      She toured and recorded with Millinder's orchestra from 1941, sacred words over a dance band, and a soundie of "Lonesome Road" took her to the jukebox screens.

      Source: Wikipedia, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (opens in a new tab)

   Source: Gayle Wald, Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Beacon Press, 2007

2. Gospel1944 to 1973

   2Strange Things Happening Every Day

   Recorded in 1944 with Sammy Price's boogie-woogie trio and released the following year, "Strange Things Happening Every Day" put gospel into the American race records top ten, and many historians name it the first rock and roll record. The case rests on the guitar: Tharpe picked single-string lines with a blues attack and a distorted tone, which Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Johnny Cash all studied. Her 1951 wedding at Griffith Stadium was sold as a concert to twenty thousand people, and in 1964 she sang for Granada Television's "Blues and Gospel Train" from a disused railway platform in Manchester, with the audience watching from across the tracks.

   Key album: Gospel Train, 1956

   1. 1944Single

      Strange Things Happening Every Day

      Recorded in September 1944 with Sammy Price's boogie-woogie trio: the distorted single-string guitar that Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Little Richard studied, and a candidate for the first rock and roll record.

      Find on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Find on Apple Music (opens in a new tab)Find on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

      Source: Wikipedia, Strange Things Happening Every Day (opens in a new tab)

   2. 1947Collaboration

      Up Above My Head, with Marie Knight

      Her duets with Marie Knight, from 1947, were gospel's biggest draw for the next few years; the pair toured as a double act.

      Source: Wikipedia, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (opens in a new tab)

   3. 1951Performance

      The wedding concert at Griffith Stadium

      On 3 July 1951 she married Russell Morrison in front of about 20,000 paying guests in Washington, then played a concert and a fireworks show.

      Source: Gayle Wald, Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Beacon Press, 2007

   4. 1964Performance

      Blues and Gospel Train, Manchester

      Granada Television staged a concert on 7 May 1964 at a disused railway station at Chorlton, the audience across the tracks; she arrived by horse and cart and played "Didn't It Rain" in the rain.

      Source: Wikipedia, The Blues and Gospel Train (opens in a new tab)

   5. 1970Moment

      A stroke ends the touring

      A stroke in 1970 and the loss of a leg to diabetes ended her travelling; she died in Philadelphia in October 1973. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted her as an early influence in 2018.

      Source: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (opens in a new tab)

   Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (opens in a new tab); Gayle Wald, Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Beacon Press, 2007

3. R&B / Soul1944 to 1950

   3On the race records chart

   "Strange Things Happening Every Day" charted as a race record, not as a gospel one, and Tharpe spent the 1940s working both sides of a line the church took seriously and the market did not. She is an interchange station because her career genuinely ran on two tracks at once.

   1. 1945Moment

      Number two on the race records chart

      "Strange Things Happening Every Day" reached number two on Billboard's race records chart in April 1945, a gospel record among the jump blues.

      Source: Wikipedia, Strange Things Happening Every Day (opens in a new tab)

   Source: Gayle Wald, Shout, Sister, Shout! The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Beacon Press, 2007

Connections

The lines