Before Elvis and Chuck Berry, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her electric guitar

Long before rock and roll had a name, a woman in a church dress stood on stage with an electric guitar and played blazing solos. She was Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and she was singing gospel.

Rosetta Nubin was born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Her mother, Katie Bell Nubin, was a travelling evangelist and singer in the Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church known for lively worship. Rosetta began performing as a child, playing guitar and singing at her mother’s side.

From church to Cotton Club

In the late 1930s, Tharpe moved to New York and began performing in nightclubs, including the Cotton Club, singing gospel songs with swing bands. She recorded with Decca in 1938, including “Rock Me” and “This Train”, and became one of the first gospel singers to have commercial hits.

Her decision to sing sacred music in secular places upset many church members, who thought gospel belonged in church. Tharpe moved between both worlds for the rest of her career.

Strange Things Happening Every Day

In 1944, she recorded “Strange Things Happening Every Day”, which reached the Billboard race records chart and is often cited as one of the first rock and roll records. Her guitar playing, loud and fast with bent notes and rhythm, influenced later musicians.

Influence

Musicians including Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis admired her. Little Richard said she was his favourite singer, and she invited him to open for her when he was a teenager.

A stadium wedding

In 1951, Tharpe married her third husband at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, in front of about 25,000 paying guests, followed by a concert. It was a publicity event and a performance.

Europe

In the 1950s and 1960s, as her popularity faded in the United States, Tharpe toured Europe, where blues and gospel had enthusiastic audiences. A 1964 television performance on a disused railway platform in Manchester, England, became famous and influenced young British musicians.

Recognition

Tharpe died in 1973 after a stroke. For years she was largely forgotten, but historians and musicians later recognised her role in the birth of rock and roll. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

She played the devil’s instrument, some church members said. She used it to sing about heaven, and she did it louder than anyone.