Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Infinite Women

Born: 20 March 1915, United States
Died: 9 October 1973
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Rosetta Nubin

This biography is reprinted in full with permission from the National Women’s History Museum (United States of America). It was written by Shay Dawson. NWHM biographies are generously supported by Susan D. Whiting. All rights reserved.

Tharpe began her musical pursuits in the church. She experimented with various genres including rhythm and blues and rock and roll

She was exceedingly skilled at playing the electric guitar, asserting her mastery as a woman guitarist

Tharpe has been dubbed the “Godmother of Rock and Roll”. Musicians such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton and Little Richard have cited her as an influence

“Can’t no man play like me. I play better than a man.” Sister Rosetta Tharpe, n.d.

Early Life
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born Rosie Etta Atkins in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Both of Tharpe’s parents, Katie Bell Nubin and Willis Atkins, were singers. Katie Bell also played the mandolin. Tharpe’s father was not involved in her life; even so, her mother’s influence alone set Tharpe on the path of becoming a performer. Alongside her work as a cotton picker, Katie Bell was also a deaconess-missionary and a women’s speaker for the Church of God in Christ. This made the church “radical for its encouragement of rhythmic musical experimentation …, as well as allowing women, such as Sister Rosetta’s mother, Katie Bell Nubin, to preach and sing in church,” (Mazique 2019). Though Tharpe was shy, her involvement in the church gave her the opportunity to both sing and play guitar for audiences from as early as age four.

In 1921, Tharpe and her mother moved to the South Side of Chicago for a change of scenery. Once she turned six, the mother-daughter duo began to tour with an evangelist troupe that performed throughout various locations in the South. As she grew older, Tharpe recognized that the more attention her performances garnered, the more of a chance she had to spread her talent, particularly in her favorite genres: gospel, jazz, and blues. While still involved with the Church of God in Christ, she soon realized that Christian ideals denounced jazz and blues. Though the church was often progressive, she was still taught to look down at genres such as rhythm and blues. Tharpe quickly found common ground between religion and song in her ongoing commitment to regularly perform at church conventions (Wald 2018). Tharpe and her mother continued to perform together throughout the 1930s.

As her talent garnered her more attention, Tharpe desired a life that provided a level of celebrity fitting of her talent. Though she did not feel that fame was in direct contradiction to her faith, there were many external conflicting opinions. Dabbling in jazz and blues was frowned upon by some in the Christian community, as many felt it was inappropriate and unbecoming of a Christian woman Tharpe’s exploration of these genres quickly became strained due to its impact on her relationship with her mother, Katie Bell, who shared similar opinions about jazz and rhythm and blues as other Christian’s in their community.

In 1935 at age 19, Tharpe married a Church of God in Christ preacher named Thomas Tharpe. Though her marriage with Thomas would not last, her time in church with him was where she donned her namesake: Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The pair performed radio shows where Thomas preached and Tharpe performed, which only increased the guitarist’s popularity (Wald 2022). By 1938, the couple was divorced and Tharpe was living in New York City. She then married promoter, Foch P. Allen in the early 1940s, though the two ultimately split (Wald 2012).

Road to Stardom
Upon her move to the musical metropolis that was New York City, opportunities abounded. Her newfound fame brought opportunities to perform at both the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater in 1983. Notably, Tharpe was the first gospel soloist to play a gig at the Apollo (Wald 2004). In 1941, Tharpe began to produce her first recorded performances. She was signed to perform with swing band Lucky Millinder Orchestra. The orchestra was known for “churning out danceable pop hits,” (Wald 2004). She toured with Millinder until 1943, recording various hits such as “The Lonesome Road,” “Down By the Riverside,” “Four or Five Times,” “Shout Sister Shout,” and “(I Want a) Tall Skinny Papa,” (Wald 2004, Britannica 2024).

Sister Rosetta Tharpe performs “Shout Sister Shout” alongside Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra circa 1941.
“Sister Rosetta Tharpe & The Lucky Millinder Orchestra • “Shout Sister Shout • 1941 [RITY Archive].’” YouTube, May 18, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLWel645CM.

Though many of her songs still maintained gospel undertones, Tharpe began to face overt backlash from religious groups regarding her music. Tharpe’s formative musical experiences in the church undoubtedly impacted her musical stylings, particularly considering that the Church of God in Christ was noted for its “robust and lively musical expressions of faith,” (Wald 2004). Though Tharpe’s performances were undoubtedly high-spirited, the mixed-genre elements made some religious listeners call Tharpe a secular artist. Tharpe’s critics also scrutinized her frequenting of nightclubs and performances that featured scantily clad background dancers (Popmatters 2007). Many also called Tharpe’s masterful guitar playing into question, with naysayers implying that she had strayed too far from traditional gender roles.

Amidst critiques of her music, Tharpe was also subject to the confines of socio-political conflicts. As described by the Jim Crow Museum: “Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s,” (Pilgrim 2000). Still in place in the 1940s, Jim Crow Laws mandated that racial segregation between communities of color and white communities were in place. As such, even as Tharpe performed along white artists (such as the Jordanaires), she was required to sleep on buses and eat her meals outside of restaurants (Diaz-Hurtado 2017). Eventually, Tharpe would come to purchase her own tour bus to “[combat] the exclusions and indiginities of segregation,” (Wald 2018).

Even so, others remained staunch fans of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and found her prowess as a guitarist impressive rather than appalling. Her unique style combined elements of “Delta blues, New Orleans jazz and gospel music,” (Diaz-Hurtado 2017). Though a lack of acceptance from the community that raised her was emotionally challenging for Tharpe, other audiences took feverishly to her music . She rose to the very top with no signs of stopping, becoming a national sensation. Lifelong friend, Roxie Moore, spoke emphatically to Tharpe’s talent: “She could play a guitar like nobody else you’ve ever seen … People would flock to see her. Everybody loved her,” (Rose 2009).

Spirituality vs. Identity
By 1946, Tharpe was a seasoned performer. Not only did she ooze talent, but she could also be counted on to know talent when she saw it in others, including in gospel singer Marie Knight. While attending a concert at the Golden Gate Ballroom in Harlem, Tharpe heard Knight perform for the first time alongside singer Mahalia Jackson and took great interest in her (Grimes 2009). A few weeks later, she extended an offer to Knight to develop a musical act and tour as a duo. Soon after agreeing, Knight became not only Tharpe’s partner in performance, but in life. The two produced a hit song entitled “Up Above My Head,” (Diaz-Hurtado 2017). They also teamed up on tracks “Precious Memories,” “Didn’t It Rain” and “Beams of Heaven”. Each of these call-and-response songs solidified Tharpe and Knight as “one of top gospel acts of the era,” (Grimes 2009). The women made their mark by breaking through to the rhythm and blues charts which was not typical of the time (Grimes 2009).

An audio recording of Tharpe and Knight singing “Up Above My Head,” one of the duo’s hit tracks.
“Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air.” YouTube, February 21, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Jr-W6A5rs.

While Tharpe’s queer identity has not been researched at length, it has been noted that she had relationships with both men and women throughout her life (Wald 2022). Additionally, the women were in a committed relationship and supported by other musical artists of the time. The prominence of this partnership both on a personal and professional level cannot be understated: “[Tharpe and Knight] toured, collaborated and performed as two queer black women in a relationship in the late 1940s; it was a radical act,” (Diaz-Hurtado 2017). The pairing was wildly beneficial overall, though the women would not last as professional nor romantic partners. Tragedy struck in 1940 when Knight’s two children passed away due to a house fire (Grimes 2009). Though a tragedy that brought the women closer, the pair would eventually split in 1950. Tharpe and Knight remained close friends.

The 1940s presented a variety of obstacles for queer people – especially regarding being out. Tharpe biographer, Gayle Wald, shared with Out in The City that:

“Do I think Sister Rosetta Tharpe had attractions to and sexual relations with women? Yes…But I don’t know if she used any words to identify herself. …In the gospel world, it it was understood that people protected each other’s privacy. You didn’t want to ruin anyone’s career or life. … That way, people lived their lives as openly as they could,” (Wald 2022).

Between a mix of her religious beliefs, her fame, and racial and gendered constraints at the time, these elements impacted how freely Tharpe was able to live. As such, her continued meshing and bending of genres that laid the foundation for rock and roll allowed her to express herself in ways that were not typical of the time. Music remained a constant – providing her with a reprieve when battling oppressive circumstances.

Later Life and Legacy
Two years later, in 1951, Tharpe found companionship with her manager, Russell Morrison. The two set out to get married, with her third and final wedding (that also doubled as a concert) attracting 25,000 fans. Remaining close, Marie Knight was one of Tharpe’s bridesmaids. Though Morrison and Tharpe’s relationship was complex, the two would remain together until her passing in 1973. Twenty years of continued fame meant more milestones – Sister Rosetta Tharpe recorded what is said to be the first interracial duet in the U.S. with singer Red Foley, “Have a Little talk with Jesus.” She also recorded various albums with others, featured on various tracks and toured across the U.S. and Europe. Her discography grew during this time, with notable LPs Precious Memories and Singing in My Soul both produced in 1968. The latter of the two was nominated for an Emmy for Best Soul Gospel Performance.

As the years passed, performances began to dwindle. As Tharpe lost listeners throughout the 1960s as younger audiences shifted their musical tastes to different genres, she pivoted. She moved to England and began to perform in London and Liverpool (Openshaw 2022). In 1957, when interviewed by London’s Daily Mirror, Tharpe proclaimed “All this new stuff they call Rock and Roll, why I’ve been playing that for years now,” (Wald 2018). Years later, in 1970, Tharpe had a stroke and began to struggle from diabetes. Between 1970 and 1973, one of her legs was amputated as a result of health complications. Tharpe passed away on October 9th, 1973, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from another stroke (Popmatters 2007). She was 58 years old.

Since her passing, Tharpe’s legacy remains at the center of much discussion. Artists such as Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Little Richard and Chuck Berry have cited her as a major influence. “In response to his 1986 induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Chuck Berry was quoted saying “My whole career has been one long Sister Rosetta Tharpe impersonation,” (Leigh 2024). A 32-cent stamp honoring Tharpe was produced by the US Postal Service in 1998. In 2007, Tharpe was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (Openshaw 2022). Later, January 11th was officially designated Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day in Pennsylvania given how much time Tharpe spent there (Openshaw 2022). In light of discourse surrounding her heavy influence on rock and roll, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Media inspired by her life has also been produced, including the 2023 musical entitled Shout, Sister, Shout!, which premiered in 2019 at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

The Godmother of Rock and Roll led a complicated, though fruitful life. Her relationship to religion, Blackness, queerness, and womanhood within the early to mid-1900s brought strife but also brought her joy and beauty – all of which manifested within her musical musings and the soulful strumming of her guitar.

The following is republished from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).

In the early days of rock, British musicians heard the call of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. NEH fellow and George Washington University professor Gayle F. Wald describes the gospel diva’s influence in Shout, Sister, Shout! (Beacon Press).

Rosetta Tharpe never had Mahalia Jackson’s political cachet or her connection to the civil rights movement. Earlier that summer, she had appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, but she remained at best marginal to the folk scene, whose core audiences preferred the music of pioneering freedom singers like Odetta, a proud black woman who wore her hair in a “natural”—unlike Rosetta, who wore her hair in a mortifyingly out-of-date pressed and dyed style. At Newport, moreover, where the acoustic guitar was considered authentic, Rosetta’s new solid-body white Gibson SG custom electric instrument, said to have set her back $750, lost its significance as a symbol of her modernity and polish.

In England, on the other hand, Rosetta’s music was attracting a new cohort of fans. As early as 1957, Rosetta had told London’s Daily Mirror, “All this new stuff they call rock ’n’ roll, why, I’ve been playing that for years now.” Now, toting a glossy instrument with impressive-looking stainless steel hardware, she was making good on that claim. If there was anyone to contradict her, it was not Marie [Knight, her former singing partner]. Rock and roll actually started from the church, because it’s [about] time, and music is time,” she says. “If there is no time and no beat, there is no sound. Ninety percent of rock-and-roll artists came out of the church, their foundation is the church. . . . All the way back as far as you can go back, rock-and-roll artists started in the church.” In England, Rosetta’s instrument announced her status as “rock.” I was there at the beginning,” it said, “and I’m still here. Just watch what I can do.”. . .

No other American woman was as central to the transatlantic flow of sound that we know today as the British Invasion as Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A woman among men and a gospel musician among secular blues players, she was still somewhat sidelined as an anomaly. Paradoxically, however, the very qualities that had always rendered Rosetta an outsider—her flamboyance, her over-the-top style, her association with the guitar, her need to differentiate herself from other Pentecostals through unconventional choices and outrageous behavior—rendered her irresistibly compelling to the British blues-rockers of the 1960s. “We had heard the original rock ’n’ roll—Buddy Holly, Elvis and Gene, Vincent, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry,” said Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge in 1992. “We put all of that together, and at the same time, discovered another 30 years of American experience on record—Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee [sic], Sister Rosetta Tharpe and all of those people. Then we repackaged it and sold it back in a very free approach.”