Sister Rosetta Tharpe

A remarkable gospel and jazz singer, with a substantial following in both fields.
Alongside Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is widely acclaimed 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 - by playing nightclubs and theaters, she not only pushed spiritual music into the mainstream, but in the process also helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel…

A remarkable gospel and jazz singer, with a substantial following in both fields. Alongside Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is widely acclaimed 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 - by playing nightclubs and theaters, she not only pushed spiritual music into the mainstream, but in the process also helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel.

An astounding voice, a thrilling guitar, encounters with blues and boogie pianist Sammy Price and with the super contralto Marie Knight, Sister Rosetta Tharpe continues to swing the gospel in her own inimitable fashion!

A fantastic overview of the later genius of Sister Rosetta Tharpe – a key figure in the development of rock, soul, and a number of other styles from that key midcentury moment in American music! Tharpe's a singer with a voice that influenced Aretha Franklin and other female soul artists – and a guitarist with a fast-riffing style that was born in gospel, but had a huge influence on rock and roll – as you'll hear here in a really well-chosen batch of cuts from the second half of her career!