The biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe....portrait of a life well lived

books:

	• Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe Gayle F. Wald Beacon Press, 2007 - 252 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Rosetta credited

As I have been looking forward to someone writting a book about Sister Rosetta Tharpe I was excited that one was on the market. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was sensitively written and with a lot of information about this neglected gospel star who pioneered so many trends in music and what she did on stage. A lot of what she accomplished she has not been given due credit by writters of popular music and this book seeks to balance this oversight.
My only critisism was that there were not enough pictures of rosetta in the book and could of done with a fully discogrphy.

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Rock on, Sister!

Being a white mid-westerner I knew virtually nothing about the Black gospel experience. Over the years, as a univeristy music teacher at a HBCU I have become aware of many great artists and stories. Rosetta Tharpe is one of them. What a colorful and challenging life she lived. Read this book and tell me it would not make a great movie! When you read the book, you must also listen to her music. Better yet, look for her performance clips on YouTube. You MUST see her play the guitar. I mean, go look for them now!

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The biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe....portrait of a life well lived

As a collector and student of American popular music for more than 40 years now I have occasionally come across the name of Sister Rosetta Tharpe in some of the reference books that I own. I would also see her name mentioned in the liner notes for various CD's as well as in books chronicling the rich and diverse history of American popular music. Having said that there was really not a heck of a lot of information out there on the life and remarkable career of this extremely influential figure. Author Gayle Wald has corrected this unfortunate oversight with her entertaining and highly informative new book "Shout, Sister, Shout: The Untold Story of Rock and Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe". As a result of reading this book I have already been motivated to purchase a collection of her music. And let me tell you I was not disappointed!
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born in the tiny town of Cotton Plant, AR on March 20, 1915 not far from the birthplace of another American music legend Johnny Cash. With the encouragement of parents who were very active in the local Church of God in Christ, Rosetta began singing in church at an unusually young age. Before the age of six she started playing around with a guitar. Just about everyone who saw and heard Rosetta thought that she was an exceptionally gifted young lady. In fact, it was her acumen with the guitar that would set her apart and help to make a career in music possible. "Shout, Sister, Shout" follows the mercurial career of Rosetta from performing at her local church to a gig at the world famous Cotton Club in New York City in 1938. It is quite apparent that Rosetta was torn between the gospel music she grew up with and loved so much and the incredible opportunities and financial rewards that beckoned in the secular world. It was a dilemma that would take her years to resolve. In 1938 Rosetta inked her first recording contract with Decca records. Decca was looking to make a name for itself in the emerging gospel and blues market and viewed Sister as their ticket to success. She did not disappoint! In 1941 Sister Rosetta Tharpe joined the Lucky Millinder Orchestra as a featured vocalist. This band was at the height of its popularity at that time and Rosetta made some very memorable recordings with them. But by 1943 Rosetta had tired of the secular music scene and was determined to return to the music she really loved. Ever restless, Sister would return to the secular world from time to time as opportunities presented themselves. In 1950, she appeared on Perry Como's television show and in 1952 she recorded a duet with the legendary country artist Red Foley in Nashville. Sadly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was only 56 years old when diabetes struck. Two years later in 1973 she died of a massive stroke on the very day she was scheduled to record a brand new album for Savoy records.
"Shout, Sister, Shout" tells the fascinating life story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. You will the meet people who were most influential in her life, especially her mother Katie Bell Nubin and her close friend Marie Knight. And you will come to understand how it was that a female black guitarist that emerged in the 1930's would become such a major influence on people like Chuck Berry, John Lennon, Elvis and even Mick Jagger. By reading "Shout, Sister, Shout" I was able to fill in a good many gaps in my knowledge of American popular music. Cheryl Wald has come up with an extremely important book that can be read and enjoyed by a wide variety of audiences. Very highly recommended!

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Helpful Read

Shout Sister Shout: Rosetta Tharpe

The author annoyed me some in the book. But as they say, "you can't expect the dog to tell the cat's story right!" I think she did an okay job. I know better books will be written on this fantastic woman. I would recommend it for the simply reason that there aren't that many books out there about Mrs. Rosetta. At least with this book, you will get a basic introduction of this little known pioneer, guitar player and singer.

Ms. Rosetta is really the pioneer of the Rock n Roll quitar. Everybody followed her style of playing. Also let's keep in mind that there is no such music as rock n roll, it is the Blues played with an electric quitar. Also keep in my that the rock appelation as with the term Latin music is a marketing tool to present African peoples music to white America, and is also an attempt to appropriate and distanced black folks from their creations. As with all popular and innovative forms of music worldwide, the creative geniuses are the descendents of Africans.

Shout Sister Shout is worth reading. I would like to recommend folks read Leroi Jones' Blues People. See my review at Kissinashe.blogspot.com.

This book is definitely worth reading.

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Long before "women in rock" became a media catchphrase, Rosetta Tharpe proved in spectacular fashion that women could rock. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, in 1915, she was gospel's first superstar and the preeminent crossover figure of its "golden age" (1945?1965). Everyone who saw her perform said she could "make that guitar talk."

Shout, Sister, Shout! is the first biography of this trailblazing performer who influenced scores of popular musicians, from Elvis Presley and Little Richard to Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt. An African American guitar virtuoso, Tharpe defied categorization. Blues singer, gospel singer, folk artist, and rock-and-roller, she "went electric" in the late 1930s, amazing northern and southern, U.S. and international, and white and black audiences with her charisma and skill. Ambitious and relentlessly public, Tharpe even staged her own wedding as a gospel concert?in a stadium holding 20,000 people!

Wald's eye-opening biography, which draws on the memories of over 150 people who knew or worked with Tharpe, introduces us to this intriguing and forgotten musical heavyweight, forever altering our understanding of both women in rock and U.S. popular music.

"A book like this is long overdue. Rosetta Tharpe was a major star and a huge influence on the musicians of her day. Listen to her recordings and you can hear all the building blocks of rock and roll."
?Singer-songwriter Joan Osborne

"Rosetta was one of the most beloved and influential artists ever in gospel music. . . . and she blazed a trail for the rest of us women guitarists with her indomitable spirit and accomplished, engaging style. She has long been deserving of wider recognition and a place of honor in the field of music history."?Bonnie Raitt

"Rosetta Tharpe was larger than life?but sometimes, as Gayle Wald tells the story, she was larger than herself. Wald's account of Tharpe's 1951 marriage in Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.?she signed a contract for the wedding, then went looking for the husband?is a classic American tall tale, except that it happened, and, in these pages, you are there."
?Greil Marcus, cultural critic and author of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock-N-Roll Music

"Rosetta Tharpe was one of my first influences, one of the first people I heard sing. I'm glad Gayle Wald has done a book on her because people need to know."
?Isaac Hayes

"Shout, Sister, Shout is a revelation, an important document and fascinating story. Praise to Gayle Wald for digging deep into the roots of rock."
?David Ritz, author of Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye

"Before Mahalia Jackson's name was known and before Edwin Hawkins was born, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a gospel super star. Her unique style of singing, playing guitar and emoting was packaged by Little Richard and the Rolling Stones and led to Rock and Roll. Wald tells 'Sister's' story with understanding, passion and tremendous knowledge of the music and the people. Finally, 'Sister' can rest in peace!"
?Horace Clarence Boyer, author of The Golden Age of Gospel

"Gayle Wald has written a compelling and exciting work about a complicated and underappreciated musical treasure, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Honest, forthright and engaging, Shout, Sister, Shout! will forever change the way we think about the origins of rock and roll."
?Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday

"Rosetta Tharpe's story, salvaged here by Wald, a professor of English at George Washington University, is very much a woman's story, refreshingly free of Svengalis and impresarios. Her picaresque journey from Pentecostal child prodigy in Cotton Plant, Ark., to preteen phenom on Chicago's church circuit to Cotton Club darling to one of gospel's first recording starts in constantly surprising." ?New York Times Book Review

"Mixing tireless reporting with nuanced musical and cultural insights, Wald's Shout, Sister, Shout! is about as good as musical reparations get."
?Vibe Magazine

Gayle F. Wald is professor of English at George Washington University and the author of Crossing the Line: Racial Passing in Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture. Wald also wrote the liner notes for a critically acclaimed 2003 Rosetta Tharpe tribute album. She lives in Washington, D.C.

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