AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Artist:Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Song:Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air

Album:Up Above My Head

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a gospel music pioneer. Of course she was a great singer. But she may be the greatest guitarist you never heard. She sure could swing that axe. She was born Rosether Atkins Mar. 20, 1915 in Cotton Point, AR. Her parents picked cotton but they also sang. Her mom was a preacher for Church of God in Christ (COGIC). At age six, Rosetta and her mom joined a traveling evangelical troupe. Rosetta was already playing guitar. They settled in Chicago in the mid 20s and performed at the Roberts Temple COGIC and they toured. Rosetta stood out because of her guitar playing. At age 19, she married COGIC preacher Thomas Tharpe and he joined the act. The marriage only lasted a few years but she kept his name. After they split in 1938, Rosetta and her mom moved to New York. Rosetta signed with Decca Records and she remained there for most of her career. She also joined Lucky Millender's band and played nightclubs with him. This was very controversial at the time as the church crowd is very conservative. For the most part, she recorded with Decca house pianist Sammy Price. And his boogie woogie style was well suited to Rosetta's guitar slinging. Then in 1946, Rosetta saw Marie Knight at a Mahalia Jackson concert and took her on the road. She also appeared on her late 40s recordings like Up Above My Head, I Hear Musi in the Air. Up Above My Head is based on another gospel song Over My Head. It's basically the same song but Up Above My Head is more popular because of Rosetta's 1947 recording which reached #6 on Billboard's "Race Records" chart. Musicians are Sammy Price on piano, George "Pops" Foster on bass and Wallace Bishop on drums. You can get all of Rosetta' 40s recordings on this comp. Mahalia Jackson became more popular in the 50s mostly because she had her own TV show. Rosetta continued to perform and record occasionally until she died of a stroke on Oct. 9, 1973 at age 58. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is now called The Godmother of Rock 'n' Roll because she mixed gospel with her electric guitar. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Here's Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing Up Above My head, I Hear Music in the Air on Gospel Time TV 1960.