Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The widely-acclaimed Sister Rosetta Tharpe is among the greatest Sanctified gospel singers of her generation; a flamboyant performer whose music often flirted with the blues and swing, she was also one of the most controversial talents of her day, shocking purists with her leap into the secular market. Playing nightclubs and theaters, she pushed spiritual music into the mainstream and helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel.
Tharpe was born March 20, 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas; the daughter of Katie Bell Nubin, a traveling missionary and shouter in the classic gospel tradition known throughout the circuit as "Mother Bell," she was a prodigy, mastering the guitar by the age of six. At the same time, she attended Holiness conventions alongside her mother, performing renditions of songs including "The Day Is Past and Gone" and "I Looked Down the Line."
In time, the family relocated to Chicago, where Tharpe began honing her unique style; blessed with a resonant vibrato, both her vocal phrasing and guitar style drew heavy inspiration from the blues, and she further aligned herself with the secular world with a sense of showmanship and glamour unique among the gospel performers of her era. Signing to Decca in 1938, Tharpe became a virtual overnight sensation; her first records, among them Thomas A. Dorsey's "Rock Me" and "This Train," were smash hits, and soon she was performing in the company of mainstream superstars including Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman. She led an almost schizophrenic existence, remaining in the good graces of her core audience by recording material like "Precious Lord," "Beams of Heaven," and "End of My Journey" while also appealing to her growing white audience by performing re-arranged uptempo spirituals including "Didn't It Rain" and "Down by the Riverside."
During World War II, Tharpe was so popular that she was one of only two Black gospel acts -- the Golden Gate Quartet being the other -- to record V-Discs for American soldiers overseas; she also toured the nation in the company of the Dixie Hummingbirds, among others. In 1944, she began recording with boogie woogie pianist Sammy Price; their first collaboration, "Strange Things Happening Every Day," even cracked Billboard's race records Top Ten, a rare feat for a gospel act, and one which she repeated several more times during the course of her career. In 1946, she teamed with the Newark-based Sanctified shouter Madame Marie Knight, whose simple, unaffected vocals made her the perfect counterpoint for Tharpe's theatrics; the duo's first single, "Up Above My Head," was a huge hit, and over the next few years they played to tremendous crowds across the church circuit.
However, in the early '50s Tharpe and Knight cut a handful of straight blues sides; their fans were outraged, and although Knight soon made a permanent leap into secular music -- to little success -- Tharpe remained first and foremost a gospel artist, although her credibility and popularity were seriously damaged. Not only did her record sales drop off and her live engagements become fewer and farther between, but many purists took Tharpe's foray into the mainstream as a personal affront; the situation did not improve, and she spent over a year touring clubs in Europe, waiting for the controversy to die down. Tharpe's comeback was slow but steady, and by 1960 she had returned far enough into the audience's good graces to appear at the Apollo Theatre alongside the Caravans and James Cleveland. While not a household name like before, she continued touring even after suffering a major stroke in 1970, dying in Philadelphia on October 9, 1973.
Though most of her recordings have been compiled, remastered, and reissued, producer and archivist Zev Feldman released the unearthed Live in France: The 1966 Concert in Limoges on his fledgling Deep Digs label in association with Elemental Music. Recorded on November 11, 1966, at Le Grand Theatre, the unissued, professionally recorded show offered 21 tracks, all performed solo with her voice and electric guitar.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Teach Me To Be Right
Pop - Released by Vantage Music on 7 Oct 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gospel Songs (Mono Version)
Gospel - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Our Favourites
R&B - Released by SIsoshar Music Records on 7 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Up Above My Head
Blues - Released by Redwood Records on 17 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Where You There When They Crucified My Lord (Recordings of 1949 - 1950)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marie Knight, James Roots Quartet, The Rosette Gospel Singers
Gospel - Released by Gospel Train on 13 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bound For Glory (Live Stuttgart '58) (Live)
Blues - Released by Wolf Tree on 26 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Up Above My Head
Blues - Released by Snapper Music on 31 Mar 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Essential
Gospel - Released by Vintage Jukebox on 19 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Every Time I Feel The Spirit
R&B - Released by Sunset Blvd. Records on 15 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Original Soul Sister
Gospel - Released by Music Manager on 10 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sister on Tour (Album of 1961)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Choir & Orchestra Teacho Wiltshire
Gospel - Released by Gospel Train on 20 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
At The River I'll Stand (Live 1970)
Blues - Released by Second Line on 23 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gospel & Negro Spirituals
The Gospel Tabernacle Choir, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Four Internes
Gospel - Released by Tuxedo Music on 24 May 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Manchester Free Trade Hall, December 9th 1957 (Remastered)
Gospel - Released by RevOla on 30 Jul 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vacation in the Sky
Gospel - Released by Remember that Records on 1 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Down By The Riverside (Recordings of 1943)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra
Gospel - Released by Gospel Train on 8 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strange Things Happen Every Day
Blues - Released by Pimlico Records on 26 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Complete Gospel Truth (All Tracks Remastered 2021)
Gospel - Released by jjjedizionimusicali on 24 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Have a Little Talk with Jesus (Recordings of 1951 - 1952)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Red Foley, The Anita Kerr Singers
Gospel - Released by Gospel Train on 15 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -