Godmother of Rock'nRoll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Inducted into Rock & Rock Hall of Fame FINALLY!!

Every year when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions are announced, you’ll hear some mega-gripes about who didn’t get in—Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson are NOT in it! Can you believe it?—but finally this year we got props for Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

You know Nina Simone. But if you’re like, “Who’s Sister Rosetta Tharpe?” ...you’re not alone. “The guitar-playing, gospel-singing sensation paved the way for Elvis, shredded on electric guitar, belted praises both to God and secular pleasures, and broke the color line touring with white singers, she was gospel's first superstar, and she most assuredly rocked,” says RollingStone.com. It was an awfully long time ago, so not a lot of people are putting her songs on their playlists. But they should. 

No artist has been more overdue for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognition than Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Her first hit, Rock Me, came out in 1938 and it blew everyone away. Chuck Berry called himself a fan, and so have many other true musicians and singers over the years.

Jessica Diaz-Hurtado wrote of Tharpe’s distinctive sound and approach in an article for NPR: 

“Although Tharpe’s distinctive voice and unconventional style attracted fans, it was still the mid-1930s. Female guitarists were rare, and even more so was a musician who pursued both religious and secular themes, a fact that alarmed the gospel community. But Tharpe — young and innovative — was determined to keep experimenting with her sound. Her persistence and grit paid off, and by 1938, she had joined the Cotton Club Revue, a New York City club that became especially notable during the Prohibition era. She was only 23 at the time, a feat that was only amplified when she scored her first single.”

Tharpe was a pioneer and a maverick—she married a preacher when she was a teenager, and had a love affair with a woman in the 1940s—she played alongside the best in the biz, including jazz and Big Band legend Duke Ellington. But Rosetta was a rocker, long before rock as we know it flooded the airwaves with the so-called “British invasion” in the swinging 60s. (Sadly, this is when her career started to take a dive—acts like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones took over.)

This lady was an innovator, not just in music but in PR and branding. “Over two decades before Sly Stone thought to get hitched in Madison Square Garden, Tharpe married her third husband in Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. The concert and promotional stunt drew 25,000, many with gifts.”

She drew a crowd wherever she went. Folks just marveled at her talent. And her fearlessness. “She was booked at the Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan tour in England,” recounts RollingStone.com, “and she played a famous gig in an abandoned railroad station that was broadcast nationwide by Granada television. It was a cold and rainy day, but Tharpe got out of a horse-drawn carriage like royalty, strode across the wet platform, picked up her electric guitar, plugged in, and played Didn't It Rain, electrical-shock risk apparently be damned, soloing and singing her heart out in front of a crowd of young people.”

Check out that legendary performance here:

Her last known recording came out in 1970. She sings the Thomas Dorsey gospel standard Take My Hand, Precious Lord, a song Elvis Presley also recorded.

Tharpe died in 1973, in Philadelphia, where she'd been living with her mother in a humble home in a quiet neighborhood. The funeral was small and unassuming—so unlike the woman herself. In fact, she was buried in an unmarked grave. Only in the last few years was money finally raised for a headstone.

Here's a full-length documentary film on Sister Rosetta Tharpe, if you'd like to know more:

Finally, Tharpe will get the recognition she richly deserves, with the highest honor in the music industry. Yeah, the Grammys and AMAs are cool, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the top—and Rosetta is there in spirit, getting her Award for Early Influence.

Congrats to all of the inductees! (But especially Rosetta ;)