1915-1973 | Sister Rosetta Tharpe

[demmiblue]

Source: Mashable

Born to Arkansas cotton pickers in 1915, Rosetta Nubin first began singing and playing guitar at the age of four. Soon she was playing in a traveling evangelical troupe alongside her mother and being hailed as nothing short of miraculous.

Rosetta moved to Chicago with her mother and gained significant fame for her rhythmic gospel performances. After a brief marriage to a preacher named Thomas Thorpe, she adopted the stage name Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

She was married several times in her life, but was believed by close friends to be lesbian or bisexual.

In 1938, she moved to New York and recorded four of her gospel songs for the first time, with the backing of Lucky Millinder’s orchestra. They were instantly successful. Her melding of religious lyrics with lively, rollicking music was unheard of, and alienated some conservative listeners while attracting secular audiences.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2016/02/26/sister-rosetta-tharpe/#LSkP4AKekkqN

[Buzz cook]

1. Not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

A serious oversight.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/put-sister-rosetta-tharpe

[Straw Man]

2. She is absolutely marvelous.

One of the progenitors of rock 'n' roll. Here's another:

[kwassa]

3. Up Above My Head

My favorite