The life of a Rock and Roll icon, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, was very interesting and how Rock and Roll changed her life and influenced other artists, such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a unique Rock and Roll player.     Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, musician, guitarist, and recording artist. She was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas to parents, Katie Bell and Willis Atkins, who were cotton pickers.

They were faithful to God. Aside from her dad being a cotton picker and faithful to God, he was also a singer, and that gift passed on to her daughter. She took advantage of her gift as a singer to the concerts and devoted to creating music out and about, which later became the dream of every Rock and Roll players. That dream was to have the opportunity to sing and play in front of big crowds and tour around the countries.     When she was nineteen years old, she married Tommy Tharp, a preacher, and was taken advantaged that it attracted a lot of people to her husband’s church preaching. Right there, it showed that Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the real talent. Her marriage was not working out, so she left her husband moved to New York with her mother. She moved to New York for a better opportunity in life, pursue her singing career and to explore than rather being at church singing nor waste her time.

To be completely forthright, I would never envision myself in her position, yet I could perceive any reason why she left her hometown.    While in New York, Rosetta’s talent was soon noticed and was offered a spot at Harlem’s Cotton Club. She soon signed a contract with Decca Records.

Cotton Club was a club in New York City located in Harlem in 142nd Street. This club was only for white men, even though it featured many famous black artists. Rosetta sang whatever they told her to sing. Back in the days, having blacks and whites in the same place was something that had never happened, but Rosetta still managed to keep calm and peace aside from the fact that there a lot of segregation going on. Throughout her journeys, she was lucky to be alive and not get shot by others because of her skin colors. She was a strong woman and a hero to have gone through this whole thing by unobtrusively dissenting by making unwinding music that everybody could appreciate.    In the Spring of 1946, she met young singer, Marie Knight. She was impressed by Knight’s performance and decided to start a duet.

Both went on tours and did not need to report anyone but themselves. Tharpe fame rose up and became an icon. On her third and last wedding, more than 25 thousand people showed up. That’s a lot of people, almost like if it was a concert. The average that I have seen was about 20-30 people in a wedding.     Sister Rosetta Tharpe had a huge impact on so many generations who came after her as far as how to display melodies, the way they expected to approach music and the group and how to proceed onward. She had an uncommon ability for uniting individuals and numerous artists needed to do likewise for themselves.

It is funny how in today’s society, people just make music to make easy money and use that money for drugs and other stuff. It is sad to see that today’s musician is being wasted while they completely forgot what our previous generations did to protect Rock ‘N’ Roll.     To conclude, there is a day that is dedicated to her (January 11) which is next week, Thursday. I am looking forward to this day to relax and listen to her beautiful artwork and to appreciate our old Rock ‘N’ Roll. I am glad to have learned so much about her and how she changed Rock and Roll. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is a true hero, icon, sister, godmother, and idol who remains in history.