PIONEERS Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Rosetta Nubin was born on 20 March 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, a small town sandwiched between the Midwestern and Southern states. Both parents were cotton workers, although Rosetta didn’t know much of her father except that he sang in his spare time. Her mother, Katie, was deeply ensconced in the local church as both deaconess, vocalist and mandolinist.
Clearly a child prodigy, by the age of six Rosetta was performing with her mother, singing and playing guitar under the name Little Rosetta Nubin as part of a travelling evangelical group. Even at this early stage Rosetta was spoken of as a formidable talent on the guitar. Throughout the 1920s, she further honed her skills after relocating with her mother to Chicago, performing in gospel music ensembles locally alongside the occasional nationwide tour.
It was around this time that Rosetta started to hear the first recordings of such blues queens as Ma Rainey and the trio of Smiths – Bessie, Trixie and Mamie. This was the era when blues was dominated by female artists shortly before the first Delta, or country blues, recordings were made. Rosetta was right in the thick of it, absorbing the music of her church roots and mixing
