10 Stories of Women. (1) Sister Rosetta Tharpe
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@[Taddi] When she steps onto the stage of the "Folk, Blues and Gospel Caravan Tour" in 1964, Sister Rosetta is already 49 years old and much more than just a legend: she is one of the most revolutionary (perhaps THE most revolutionary) female musicians of the 20th century!
Am I exaggerating?
If I say that she is the one who invented rock'n roll? Some might tell you that the first rock'n roll single was “Rocket 88,” recorded by Ike Turner in 1951 or “Crazy Man, Crazy” by Bill Haley from '53. No, it was "Strange Things Happening Every Day," recorded by Sister Rosetta in 1944. The thing is, that blend of gospel, jazz, blues, and the sound of electric guitar didn’t have a name yet.
On the other hand, Chuck Berry and Little Richard (as well as Presley, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, John Lennon) will surely recognize her contribution!
Then there’s that woman, beautiful and brave, daughter of an unknown singer and a preacher, born on a cotton plantation in Arkansas, who started performing in public as a child and recorded her first record in '38. She didn’t stop there!
To illustrate: in the '50s she toured in a duo with Marie Knight, who was not only her stage partner but also her companion in life (her husband, the Reverend Thorpe, whom she married at only 19 and who had tried to make her obedient, had been sent packing quite a while ago). Let's add that our Rosetta wrote most of the music and lyrics herself (and you’d better read those lyrics!) and that Sister Rosetta showed everyone how to play the electric guitar (listen to this piece and then tell me). Even Jimi Hendrix would say, "I wanted to play like Sister Rosetta!"
Well, when she steps onto that stage in 1964, she is already a myth (even if few know it). The concert is stellar; Dylan will say that after that concert (which fortunately someone thought to film), a lot of young people decided to pick up an electric guitar.
"Sister Rosetta Tharpe was anything but ordinary and insignificant. She was a great, beautiful woman, and divine, to say the least sublime and splendid. She was a powerful force of nature," says Bob Dylan!
In 1973, at the age of just 58, the consequences of a stroke and worsening diabetes will take her away.
It only remains to say that in 2018, Rosetta was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame, 41 years after its foundation and after all those who had learned from her had been inducted decades earlier.
Why?
"Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere." (Mae West)
