The Pioneer of Rock & Roll

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was once asked about her influence on the likes of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash during their rises. She said, “Oh, these kids and rock and roll. This is just sped up rhythm and blues. I’ve been doing it forever,” and she had.

Rosetta began performing at age 6 in a traveling evangelical group. Eventually she and her mother settled in Chicago where she would still perform in church, becoming known as a prodigy with the guitar. At 19, she got married for the first time. It didn’t last. She would get married several times and was also rumored to be involved with a few ladies, most notably singer and frequent collaborator Marie Knight.

But more importantly her fame grew as she switched to an electric guitar in the 1930s and would bend genres. Speeding up gospel songs and diving full speed into secular music she had been shielded from as a child. The men who were considered pioneers of rock and roll would have never done anything without her influence.