Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 - October 9, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording artist. As a musical pioneer of the mid-twentieth century, he achieved popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with his gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and rhythmical accompaniment that was a precursor to rock and roll. He is the first recorded gospel music star and among the first gospel musicians to attract rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll viewers, later referred to as "original siblings" and "Godmother of rock and scrolls". He influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Tharpe is a pioneer in his guitar technique; he was one of the first popular recording artists to use heavy distortion on his electric guitar, presenting the emergence of electric blues. His guitar playing techniques had a major influence on the development of British blues in the 1960s; especially a European tour with Muddy Waters in 1963 with a stop in Manchester cited by leading British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Keith Richards.

Willing to cross the line between the sacred and secular by performing "light" music in the "darkness" of nightclubs and concert halls with the big bands behind it, Tharpe pushes spiritual music into the mainstream and helps pioneer the pop-gospel revival, starting in the year 1938 with a recording of "Rock Me" and with his 1939 hit "This Train". His unique music left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of Dixie Hummingbirds. While he alluded to some conservative church people by jumping into the pop world, he never left gospel music.

Tharpe's release in 1944 "Down by the Riverside" was chosen for the National Recording Registry at the US Library of Congress in 2004, noting that "capturing his enthusiastic guitar and unique vocal style, clearly demonstrated his influence on the early-and- blues performers "and cites its influence on" many gospel, jazz, and rock artists ". ("Down by the Riverside" was recorded by Tharpe on December 2, 1948, in New York City, and published as Decca single 48106.) In 1945 his hit "Strange Things Happening Every Day", recorded in late 1944, featuring Tharpe vocals and electric guitar, with Sammy Price (piano), bass and drums. It is the first crossed gospel record, not a hit. 2 on the Billboard chart "race record", the term was then used for what later became the R & B, in April 1945. The tape has been referred to as the forerunner of rock and roll. On December 13, 2017, Tharpe was selected to enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Initial Influence.

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Many sources state that he was born Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas to Katie Bell Nubin and Willis Atkins, who was a cotton picker. However, researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc give birth name as Rosether Atkins (or Atkinson), her mother's name is Katie Harper. Little is known about his father, except that he is a singer. Tharpe's mother, Katie, is also a singer and mandolin player, evangelist, and preacher to the Lord's Church in Christ (COGIC), founded in 1894 by Charles Harrison Mason, a black Baptist bishop, who encourages rhythmic musical expressions, dancing in praise and allowing women to preach in church. Encouraged by his mother, Tharpe began singing and playing the guitar as Little Rosetta Nubin at the age of four and was cited as a magical musician.

At the age of six, Tharpe has joined his mother as a regular player in evangelical traveling troupes. Billed as "singing and guitar playing," he accompanied his mother in a show that became part of the sermon and part of a gospel concert before audiences in South America.

In the mid-1920s, Tharpe and his mother settled in Chicago, Illinois, where they performed a religious concert at COGIC church on 40th Street, occasionally traveling to perform at church conventions across the country. Tharpe developed considerable fame as a musical wonder, standing in an era when prominent black female guitarists rarely. In 1934, at the age of 19, he married Thomas Thorpe, a COGIC preacher, who accompanied him and his mother on many of their tours. The marriage lasted only a few years, but he decided to adopt the husband's family name version as his stage name, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. In 1938, she left her husband and moved with her mother to New York City. Although he married several times, he appeared as Rosetta Tharpe for the rest of his life.

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Record career

On October 31, 1938, age 23, Tharpe was recorded for the first time - four sides to Decca Records, backed by jazz orchestra Lucky Millinder. The first Gospel Songs ever recorded by Decca, "Rock Me," "It's All," "My Man and I" and "The Lonesome Road" are instant hits, building Tharpe as an overnight sensation and one of the first successful gospel recordings commercially an artist. "Rock Me" affects many rock-and-roll singers, such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 1942, music critic Maurie Orodenker, describing Tharpe's "Rock Me", wrote that "This is Rosetta Tharpe Sister for rock and roll hymns." He has signed a seven-year contract with Reminder and is managed by Mo Galye. His notes caused an immediate furor: many church attendants were shocked by a mixture of religious and music-based lyrics that sounded secular, but secular audiences liked him. He played several times with a white singer group in Jordanaires.

Tharpe's appearance with jazz artist Cab Calloway at Harlem's Cotton Club in October 1938 and in John Hammond's "Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall on December 23, 1938, gained more fame, along with fame. This show, which shocks and shocks the crowd, is controversial and revolutionary in some ways. Featuring gospel music for the spectators of the secular nightclubs and with blues and jazz musicians and unusual dancers, and in conservative religious circles a woman playing guitar in such a setting is frowned upon. For these reasons, Tharpe is disliked by the segment of the gospel community. His recordings of "The Train" and "Rock Me", which combine gospel themes with an up-tempo setting, were hits in the late 1930s with audiences who had little exposure to gospel music.

It has been suggested that Tharpe has little choice in the material contracted to record with Millinder. Rosetta and Millinder grew increasingly at odds in 1943, when Rosetta was itching to get out of the big-band circuit and renew her career as a really tight act.As Roxie Moore recalled, she did not want to do lightly mock things at past-time religion or worldly matter such as 'Tall Skinny Papa', but found himself bound by contractual obligations. "Her nightclub performance, where she sometimes sings gospel songs in the middle of a clad stage girl, causes her exiled by some in the gospel community.

During this time masculinity is directly related to the guitar skills. Tharpe opposes this gender construct and is not praised for playing so uniquely and courageously often offered praise from fans and the media that he can only "play like a man", despite the fact that he can and beat many people from time to exemplify his skill in battle guitar in Apollo. He revolutionized and disrupted the music genre with sex and his race.

Tharpe resumed recording during World War II, one of only two gospel artists capable of recording V-discs for troops abroad. The song "Strange Things Happening Every Day", recorded in 1944 with Sammy Price, pianist Boogie woogie Decca's home, showcased his skills as a guitarist and lyrics and funny delivery. This is the first gospel song that made Billboard's Harlem Hit Parade (later known as the Race Record, then R & B) The Big Ten, an achievement that he will accomplish several times in his career. The 1944 record has been credited by some as the first rock and roll record. Tharpe toured throughout the 1940s, supported by various Gospel quartets, including Dixie Hummingbirds.

In 1946, Tharpe saw Marie Knight perform at the Mahalia Jackson concert in New York. Tharpe recognized a special talent at Knight. Two weeks later, Tharpe appeared at the door of the Knight, inviting him to go down the street. They toured the Gospel circuit for several years, where they recorded songs such as "Up Above My Head" and "Gospel Train". Although dismissed by both artists as gossip, some in the gospel community speculate that Knight and Tharpe maintain a romantic and sexual relationship.

Beginning in 1949, their popularity declined unexpectedly. Mahalia Jackson began to eclipse Tharpe in popularity, and Knight harbored a desire to break free as a solo act into popular music. Later, around this time, Knight lost his sons and his mother at the fire-house. That same year, to commemorate Tharpe's first birthday as a homeowner in Richmond, Virginia, Tharpe held a concert at what is now the Altria Theater. Supporting him for the concert was the Twilight Singers, who adopted Rosetta as the background singer for a concert in the future, renaming them "The Rosettes."

Tharpe attracted 25,000 paying customers to his manager Russell Morrison (her third marriage), followed by a vocal performance at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, in 1951. In 1957, Tharpe was booked for a monthlong tour. UK by British trombonist Chris Barber.

In April and May 1964, at the peak of the popular interest spurt in the blues, he toured Europe as part of the Blues and Gospel Carvings, along with Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, Ransom Knowling and Little Willie Smith, Reverend Gary Davis, Cousin Joe, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Tharpe was introduced on stage and accompanied by a piano by Cousin Joe Pleasant. Under the auspices of George Wein, the Caravan is run by Joe Boyd. A concert, in the rain, was recorded by Granada Television at an unused train station on Wilbraham Road, Manchester, in May 1964. The band performed on one platform while spectators sat on opposite platforms.

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Next life and death

Tharpe's appearance was limited by a stroke in 1970, after one of his legs was amputated as a result of diabetes complications. On October 9, 1973, ahead of the scheduled recording sessions, he died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a result of another stroke. He was buried in an unnamed grave in Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia. A marker has been placed in the cemetery.

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Later recognition

The revival of interest in Tharpe's work has led to biographies, some NPR segments, scientific articles, and honors. The US Postal Service issued a 32-cent warning stamp to honor Tharpe on July 15, 1998. In 2007, he was inaugurated posthumously into The Blues of Fame. In 2008, a concert was held to raise funds as a marker for his grave, and January 11 was declared Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day in Pennsylvania. A tombstone was built that year, and the Pennsylvania history marker was approved to be placed at his home in the Yorktown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

In 2011, BBC Four aired a one-hour documentary, Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & amp; Roll , written and directed by British filmmaker Mick Csaky. In 2013 the film is shown in the US as part of the PBS series American Masters . The film has been repeated many times in the UK and US, lastly in March 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of Tharpe's birth. On March 20, 2015, the British newspaper The Guardian published the 100th anniversary award by Richard Williams. On September 12, 2016, musical drama Marie And Rosetta, based on the relationship between Tharpe and Marie Knight, opened at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York.

On October 5, 2017, Tharpe was listed as a nomination for the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions. On December 13, 2017, he was selected in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Preliminary Influence.

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Music effect

Musically, Tharpe's unique guitar style combines melody-driven urban blues with traditional traditional settings and incorporates a pulsating swing sound that is one of the first clear rock and roll precursors.

Little Richard calls the music player, shouting, and the gospel as his favorite singer when he was a child. In 1947, he heard Richard singing before his concert at the Macon Town Auditorium and then invited him onstage to sing with him; it was Richard's first public show outside the church. After the show, he paid him for his performance, which inspired him to become a player. When Johnny Cash gave his induction speech in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, he referred to Tharpe as his favorite singer when he was a child. Her daughter Rosanne Cash stated in an interview with Larry King that Tharpe is her father's favorite singer. Tharpe began recording with electric guitars in the 1940s, with "It's All," which has been cited as an influence on Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. Other musicians, including Aretha Franklin, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Isaac Hayes, have identified their singing, guitar playing and showmanship as an important influence on them. He is upheld by British jazz/blues singer, George Melly. Tina Turner praised Tharpe, along with Mahalia Jackson, as an early musical influence. The diverse players like Meat Loaf, Neil Sedaka and Karen Carpenter have proven Tharpe's influence in the rhythmic energy he emits in his performance (the Carpenter drum fills in particular reminiscent of Tharpe's "Chorlton Chug"). Later, artists, such as Sean Michel, praised his influence with gospel song performances in more secular places.

Band Brixton Alabama 3 was named track after Tharpe on their debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane (1997) ("Sister Rosetta"), and recorded the song version of "Up Above My Head". In 2007, the British indie rock band Noisettes released the single "Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)", from their album What Time Wolf? Also in 2007, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant recorded a duet version of the song "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us", written by Sam Phillips. Phillips released his song version on the 2008 album, Do not Do Anything . Michelle Shocked opens her live Gospel album ToHeavenURide (2007) with "Strange Things Happening Every Day", along with awards for Tharpe.

In 2001, the French film Amy Lies included a scene that showed the house's neighbor the protagonist was mesmerized by a video clip montage featuring Tharpe's "Up Above My Head" performance.

In 2014 the Canadian film FÃÆ' © lix et Meira included about a minute Tharpe sang "Did not It Rain" from the 1964 Tharpe concert video at Wilbraham Road train station (Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester , UK).

In 2016 singer Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote and recorded "Oh Rosetta" for the album "The Things That We Are Made Of". Mary Chapin explained during the tour after the release of the album that she imagined a conversation with Sister Rosetta.

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Discography

Albums

• The Loneome Road , Decca 224 (1941)
• Blessed Assurance (1951)
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Russell Morrison wedding ceremonies , Decca DA-903 (1951)
• The Gospel (1956)
• Famous Negotiations and Gospel Negro (1957)
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe , MGM E3821 (1959)
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe , Omega OSL31 (1960)
• Gospel in Rhythm (1960)
• Live in 1960 (1960)
• The Truth of the Gospel with Sally Jenkins Singers (1961)
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe , Crown of LP5236 (1961)
• Sister on the Tour (1962)
• Live in Paris (1964)
• Live at Hot Club de France (1966)
• Sisters of the Rosetta Tharpe Sisters and the Gospel Hot Tabernacle and Players (1967)
• Valuable Memories , Savoy 14214 (1968)
• Singing in My Soul , Savoy 14224 (1969)

Source of the article : Wikipedia