Born March 20, 1915, Sister Rosetta Tharpe learned to play the guitar at age 4. By age 6, she was touring and performing all over the South with her mother, a traveling evangelist. She began her recording career in 1938, and became the first gospel crossover artist, and gospel's first recording star. In 1964, she toured Europe with the Blues and Gospel Caravan. Ms. Tharpe, known as the Godmother of Rock n' Roll, died of a stroke in 1973. PBS featured her on American Masters in 2013. You can watch the episode here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2337391461/ Happy 100th birthday... plus a couple of days...to the original soul sister.
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