Sister Rosetta Tharpe Research Paper

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe is an inevitable figure in music, especially when it comes to gospel music. Considered as “the Godmother of Rock and Roll”, Sister Rosetta Tharpe played a significant role in the further development of these genres and was a great influence on music stars such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Little Richard and many more (Graham, para. 2). Born in Arkansas in the year of 1915, Rosetta was an African-American and was raised by her evangelical mother, Katie Bell Nubin, who was incredibly passionate about the church. In fact, the passion was so great that Katie would go outside, play any instrument that she had on hand and sing to spread the Word of God and try her best to convert others to her faith.
No longer did her performances include or even mention God in them, since she was ordered to sing songs, not chosen by herself. Having discovered that she loved serving God and at the same time performing at night clubs, Rosetta decided to do both. She sang gospel in Church and joined the secular world of show business. After signing a contract, her fellow friends from church were shocked to hear her performance of “Tall Skinny Papa”. When questioned why she sang the song, she said she saw that the contract was signed for seven years and she had to sing whatever her contractor, Lucky Millinder would tell her to. After the controversy, she decided to stick with her favorite and best-known songs – gospel songs. She was accepted back at Church. Despite her deep conversion back to Christianity, people out of the Church admired her and she remained popular throughout the country even though her songs were about God. Her fans did not mind and continued to listen to her wonderful compositions. For the next thirty years, she achieved her dream and recorded over a dozen of albums. She played the guitar better than anyone has ever known. At Rosetta’s performances, you would mostly see her rock and rolling with a Gibson SG in her hands. “It’s that magical moment when a really fine musician becomes lost in her music and yet remains utterly in control of its effects on her audience” (Gibson Editors, para. 3). She was able to gain much fame and that was before anyone has heard her other incredible talent – her voice. This woman was known as a woman of God, which would preach the Gospel through her songs. By the age of 25, she was ranked as one of the top popular musicians of the day. She began recording songs she wanted to sing, using her own distinctive style. She became rich, famous, was praised by her fans,