Rosetta Tharpe
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Rosetta Tharpe was born March 20, 1915 to Katie Nubin and Willis Atkins, cotton pickers in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. From the very beginning, music was in her veins with both of her parents being singers, and her mother also playing mandolin. When she was 4, she began playing guitar and singing.
Her musical career began when she was 6 and performed with her mother. It would not be until she was twenty-three that she recorded her for the first time in 1938. Her music was a mix of gospel, blues and was considered a precursor of rock and roll, and she became “one of the first commercially successful gospel recording artists.” She would go on to influence some of today’s still-favourites: Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Rosanne Cash – daughter of Johnny Cash – has been quoted as describing Tharpe as her father’s favourite singer.
In 2007 (34 years after her death), Tharpe was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
She is the “godmother of rock and roll.” Rosetta Tharpe paved the way for the rock and roll music we enjoy today.
