0:00:01 > 0:00:04Ladies and gentlemen, at this time,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09I take great pleasure, in bringing to you,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12one of the greatest,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15one of the world's greatest gospel singers...
0:00:17 > 0:00:20..and guitar virtuoso...
0:00:21 > 0:00:24..the inimitable
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
0:00:33 > 0:00:40In the summer of 1964, in the pouring rain, from a disused railway station outside Manchester,
0:00:40 > 0:00:46a 49-year-old African-American woman with an electric guitar appeared on British television.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Viewers had never seen anything quite like it.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53With her distinctive style of singing and playing, this remarkable
0:00:53 > 0:00:57performer would profoundly influence the course of popular music.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03# Didn't it rain, children?
0:01:03 > 0:01:05# Rain, oh, yes
0:01:05 > 0:01:08# Didn't it just, didn't it? You know it did
0:01:08 > 0:01:12# Didn't it? Oh, oh, yes
0:01:12 > 0:01:13# How it rained
0:01:14 > 0:01:17# I said it rained, children
0:01:18 > 0:01:21# Rained, oh yes
0:01:21 > 0:01:23# Didn't it just, didn't it? You know it did
0:01:23 > 0:01:26# Didn't it? Oh, my Lord
0:01:26 > 0:01:28# How it rained... #
0:01:29 > 0:01:31'She had a guitar that was made of steel'
0:01:31 > 0:01:33and it was loud.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39She'd get on that one string and start banging on it
0:01:39 > 0:01:42and people would go crazy.
0:01:50 > 0:01:56She could play a guitar like nobody else...nobody!
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Let's do that again!
0:02:15 > 0:02:20I think Rosetta was a hugely important figure.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26'She was really unique as a guitar player.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28'She had a big influence on Chuck Berry
0:02:28 > 0:02:32'who was one of the most influential guitar players in the world.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:40'She did incredible picking.'
0:02:40 > 0:02:43That's what attracted Elvis, was her picking.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47He liked her singing too, but he liked that picking first
0:02:47 > 0:02:49because it was so different.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54# Don't you know this train is a clean train?
0:02:54 > 0:02:56# Everybody ridin' in Jesus' name
0:02:56 > 0:03:00# Because this train is a clean train... #
0:03:00 > 0:03:03She had a major impact on artists like Elvis Presley.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07When you see Elvis Presley singing early songs in his career,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I think if you imagine that he's channelling Rosetta Tharpe.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15'It's not an image that we're used to thinking about in rock and roll history.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19'We don't think about the black woman behind the young white man.'
0:03:19 > 0:03:25'All the kids who grew up in the '40s and '50s knew of her as a superstar'
0:03:25 > 0:03:27and so I think it's very fair to say
0:03:27 > 0:03:32that there's a bit of her snuck up in all of rock and roll.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36# This train is a clean train
0:03:36 > 0:03:38# This train! #
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Hey!
0:03:40 > 0:03:43APPLAUSE
0:03:46 > 0:03:47Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52INAUDIBLE
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born close by the mighty Mississippi,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24on March 20th 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas.
0:04:28 > 0:04:35# Gracious memories
0:04:40 > 0:04:45# How, how, how... #
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Her parents Katie Bell and Willis Atkins were cotton pickers
0:04:49 > 0:04:52# Yeah, yeah, how... #
0:04:56 > 0:04:59'We don't know too much about Rosetta's father.'
0:04:59 > 0:05:02What we do know about the father is that Willis Atkins could sing.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06And so it's possible that some of her gift of singing came from her father.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11Her mother was an evangelist for the Church of God in Christ.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Her mother was incredibly passionate about the Church.
0:05:15 > 0:05:23Rosetta's mother, Miss Katie Bell we called her, was a very traditional person
0:05:23 > 0:05:28and basically she was what we called a "stomp down Christian".
0:05:28 > 0:05:32I mean that's one that enjoyed stamping her feet
0:05:32 > 0:05:36and patting her hands and celebrating what she believed in.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40GOSPEL SINGING
0:05:43 > 0:05:50'Well, the reason that Rosetta became such a strong woman was because of her mother.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54'Her mother again was the same type of person. She had no fear.'
0:05:54 > 0:05:58She would take her guitar, she would take her tambourine.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02She would take her chair and sit outside and play
0:06:02 > 0:06:07'for people and try to convert them, to get them to go to church.'
0:06:07 > 0:06:10GOSPEL MUSIC
0:06:18 > 0:06:22In 1921, Katie Bell left Rosetta's father
0:06:22 > 0:06:27to become a travelling evangelist for the Church of God in Christ.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Taking the six year-old Rosetta, she left Cotton Plant
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and joined the exodus of poor black southerners heading north.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47There was work in the great city of Chicago,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51and also something even more crucial for the young Rosetta.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56The migrants brought the blues from the Mississippi Delta and jazz from New Orleans.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04Rosetta is often seen as a country singer, but that's a fallacy.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Her major development occurred very early. She moved to Chicago when she was six.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16She, and mother Bell, joined Robert's Temple Church of God in Christ,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18and the Chicago Sanctified Church
0:07:18 > 0:07:22was bubbling with musicians and new songs.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27And so she was exposed to something that was new. It wasn't rural.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It was an urban kind of religious singing.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35It was at that church that she first really started performing.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37She was the main attraction.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42There's a great story that she was put on the piano when she was six years old on the top of a piano,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45holding a guitar, being put there, so she could be seen
0:07:45 > 0:07:51by the congregation and playing, and singing and charming everyone with her talent and her precociousness.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57# There's something within me... #
0:07:59 > 0:08:04She told me that when she was a girl, not even ten,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06she was immediately seen as an all-purpose musician.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11She'd go to a revival and she'd play her guitar
0:08:11 > 0:08:16and if the people would get happy afterwards and shout,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18she'd drop the guitar and run to the piano and
0:08:18 > 0:08:21accompany them with her piano chords,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and then she might get up and cut a couple of dance steps herself.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27She was a phenomenal show-woman.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30# On life's battlefield
0:08:30 > 0:08:36# When without pleading My poor heart did yield
0:08:36 > 0:08:38# All I can say Praise God
0:08:38 > 0:08:41# There's something within... #
0:08:48 > 0:08:51All through her teens, Rosetta was taken by her mother from
0:08:51 > 0:08:57city to city, to perform in churches, tabernacles, and revival meetings,
0:08:57 > 0:09:04winning the hearts of thousands with her demure looks, angelic voice and unique guitar style.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08# Have you that something? That burning desire... #
0:09:08 > 0:09:12She soon became a nation-wide celebrity within the church.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19And this Philadelphia church is one of the first she performed in,
0:09:19 > 0:09:20back in the 1930s.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25GOSPEL SINGING
0:09:30 > 0:09:36Those who heard the young Rosetta were inspired for life.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41When I saw Rosetta I was about ten years old.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47Oh, she had the most beautiful voice and the way she could speak to you.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50It made you feel different.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52You knew something was going on,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55even if you didn't really understand what it was.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58And that's the way it was for me because I was a child.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01GOSPEL SINGING
0:10:03 > 0:10:08'Many of the hymns were the expression of suffering,'
0:10:08 > 0:10:13and wanting to survive, many of them.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18And when she came and they saw the expression of her,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22the freedom that she expressed in her singing and dancing,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27it woke up the congregation. It focused them on something that was on the inside,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30that they never gave expression to.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Rosetta would start looking up.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37She didn't look at anybody.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40She looked up as if she saw God.
0:10:40 > 0:10:47It was as if God was in her and she was communing with him, rather than with a human being.
0:10:51 > 0:10:58In 1934, when Rosetta was just 19, her mother married her off to a preacher, The Reverend Tommy Tharpe.
0:10:58 > 0:11:05For the next four years, she and Tommy worked for the Church of God in Christ.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Her job was to draw the crowds while he preached from the pulpit.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14But, in spite of her mother's good intentions, the marriage wasn't working out.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18# Look up
0:11:20 > 0:11:22# Look up
0:11:24 > 0:11:30# And see your maker
0:11:30 > 0:11:33# Before Gabriel... #
0:11:34 > 0:11:40'I met Sister Rosetta in the summer of 1937.'
0:11:40 > 0:11:44She seemed a little bit glad that she was married,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47but she didn't seem to be very happy,
0:11:47 > 0:11:52and that's the reason I took to her, because I wanted to
0:11:52 > 0:11:57just make her happy, make her feel as special as she really was.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01But I had no idea that she and Tommy wouldn't make it.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05'He was a tyrant.'
0:12:05 > 0:12:08From what my parents used to say,
0:12:08 > 0:12:15he seemed to come out of the real, real sub-old school
0:12:15 > 0:12:21and believed in the almost caveman-like attitude towards women.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25I found that he really wanted her,
0:12:25 > 0:12:31because he figured they could use her to make money to help him make a living, and that's the truth.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36I hate to say that, but that's the way it turned out to be.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39She was just a meal ticket.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41She was a performer
0:12:41 > 0:12:48and he used her to bring people to his churches and he would put her up to sing.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53And after a few years, she had enough and she said "You know what?
0:12:53 > 0:12:55"I'm going to leave all of it!"
0:12:55 > 0:12:57And she made that big jump.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Let down by the first of several men in her life, Rosetta left her husband
0:13:06 > 0:13:10and took her mother to New York, to forge a new life for herself.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16'My husband and I, we separated a little later too.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:21So she said "Well, Sister, why don't you come to New York and stay with
0:13:21 > 0:13:24me and Mama for a little while until you decide what you want to do".
0:13:24 > 0:13:27So I did, I went there.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32'We would sit up all night long
0:13:32 > 0:13:35'and sing and she'd pick the guitar softly'
0:13:35 > 0:13:37and we'd both sit up there and cry.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44We'd cry because we didn't know where we were going from there.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55In a city full of nightclubs, Rosetta's talent was soon noticed.
0:13:55 > 0:14:02She was offered a spot at the prestigious Cotton Club, singing to an up-market white audience.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08But the songs she was given by the men in charge made no mention of God - just pleasing her man.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11# Four or five times
0:14:11 > 0:14:13# Four or five times
0:14:13 > 0:14:15# It's my delight doing things right
0:14:16 > 0:14:17# Four or five times
0:14:17 > 0:14:18# Now, baby I'll sigh
0:14:18 > 0:14:20# And maybe I'll cry
0:14:20 > 0:14:23# But if I'll die I'm gonna try to make
0:14:23 > 0:14:25# Four or five times
0:14:25 > 0:14:26- # I said four or five times - Four or five times
0:14:26 > 0:14:28- # Four or five times - Four or five times
0:14:28 > 0:14:31# Now he's my king he makes me sing
0:14:31 > 0:14:33- # Four or five times - Yes indeed
0:14:33 > 0:14:34- # I confess - I confess
0:14:34 > 0:14:36- # He is the best - He is the best
0:14:36 > 0:14:39# That's the test Four or five times... #
0:14:44 > 0:14:48'It was like a bomb had dropped on gospel music when she flipped.'
0:14:48 > 0:14:55It was like "What? I can't believe it. That's Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57"She's not supposed to be singing that kind of music!"
0:15:02 > 0:15:06'Oh, she was criticised and ostracised.'
0:15:06 > 0:15:12I mean the church people thought she'd gone way off.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15# Four or five times
0:15:15 > 0:15:16# Oh, four or five times
0:15:16 > 0:15:18# It's my desire To set the world on fire
0:15:18 > 0:15:20- # Four or five times - I hear you talkin', sister
0:15:20 > 0:15:22- # Maybe I'm wrong - Maybe you're wrong
0:15:22 > 0:15:24- # Then, maybe I'm right - Maybe I'm right
0:15:24 > 0:15:26# But right or wrong I'm gonna swing this song
0:15:26 > 0:15:27# Four or five... #
0:15:33 > 0:15:38'Actually, it was hurtful to a lot of people,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42'because they felt as though they'd lost something.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:46They had something and it was great, but now it's gone.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49They viewed it almost like a death.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52You know, "Rosetta is gone.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54"She went over. She's like in another world."
0:15:54 > 0:15:58# Maybe I'll sigh Maybe I'll cry... #
0:15:59 > 0:16:04But having discovered that she loved God AND nightclubs, Rosetta decided
0:16:04 > 0:16:08to sing gospel in church and join the secular world of show business.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12No longer the good little girl from church, she was happy to defy convention.
0:16:15 > 0:16:21# One, two, three, four Four or five times! #
0:16:24 > 0:16:26The offers poured in.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29She was wanted by all the big bands of the day.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34She decided to go with the band leader Lucky Millinder and manager Moe Gale.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39In October 1938, she signed a contract with Decca Records
0:16:39 > 0:16:41which was keen to capitalise
0:16:41 > 0:16:45on the novelty of a gospel singer with a racy new style.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50This wasn't the path that her devoted mother Katie Bell had chosen,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52but she stuck by her daughter.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56# Now won't you hear me singin'?
0:16:56 > 0:17:01# Hear the words that I'm saying... #
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Her first hit was a song called Rock Me
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and the lyric is, "Jesus hear me praying".
0:17:10 > 0:17:12She sang "Won't you hear me praying".
0:17:12 > 0:17:19So when she came to the chorus when she sang, "rock me", and growled "rock",
0:17:19 > 0:17:26it sounded, to many people, like an invitation - and not to the altar.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30# In the bosom
0:17:30 > 0:17:35# Till the storms of life is over Rock me in the cradle
0:17:35 > 0:17:38# Of our love... #
0:17:40 > 0:17:45Recording the song in that particular way marked her as someone
0:17:45 > 0:17:52having the nerve to re-interpret a spiritual song for a secular audience.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56I think there was also a piece of her that was just rebellious.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58- # I want a tall skinny papa - Yeah!
0:17:58 > 0:18:01- # I wanna tall skinny papa - Yeah... #
0:18:03 > 0:18:07She does some very risque material with Lucky Millinder,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09most notably a song called Tall Skinny Papa,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11which was a big hit for Millinder's band.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15She was the lead singer on that and she sings "I want a tall skinny papa".
0:18:15 > 0:18:18There's no way off misinterpreting "I want a tall skinny papa"
0:18:18 > 0:18:22for anything to do with spirituality.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28- # Tall, tall skinny papa - I want a tall skinny papa
0:18:28 > 0:18:29# That's all I'll ever need... #
0:18:29 > 0:18:36The next thing I heard was this recording out of Rosetta with the Tall Skinny Papa.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41So I said "It can't be Rosetta!" So I went and bought the record.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46And after I listened to it I said, "Oh, my goodness, Sister is out there singing that stuff".
0:18:46 > 0:18:51So, when I saw her, I said, "Sister, I heard you tell Lucky Millinder
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"that you weren't going to sing that stuff".
0:18:54 > 0:19:02She said "When I saw that contract he had a clause in there, that I had to sing whatever he gave me,
0:19:02 > 0:19:08"and I didn't know it. I have a seven year contract with him and I had to do it."
0:19:08 > 0:19:13It's unclear how much agency
0:19:13 > 0:19:17she had in making a recording like Tall Skinny Papa.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22She was under contractual obligations to Lucky Millinder.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27She was a young woman without a lot of experience in show business.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30She may not have been comfortable with that material.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Nevertheless, it's on record and was a big hit.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41# Look down, look down That lonesome road
0:19:41 > 0:19:45# Before you travel on
0:19:45 > 0:19:47# Look up, oh, look up... #
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Following the controversy of Tall Skinny Papa,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Rosetta resolved to stick with the songs she knew best -
0:19:55 > 0:19:59gospel songs, while giving them her unique, up-beat interpretation.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03# Reaching down that lonesome road
0:20:03 > 0:20:08# Look down that lonesome road
0:20:08 > 0:20:11# Before you travel on... #
0:20:11 > 0:20:12She had hit the big time.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16Her loyal followers
0:20:16 > 0:20:17back in the church got over the shock
0:20:17 > 0:20:19and stayed with her, while she gained new fans
0:20:19 > 0:20:21who just loved her music.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27It was not an easy trick to pull off, but somehow she did it.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38She could go there, and come back anytime she wanted to because people loved her.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42And they loved her, no matter what she sang. They loved her.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47# Look down that lonesome road
0:20:47 > 0:20:54# Before you travel on. #
0:21:02 > 0:21:03By the age of 25,
0:21:03 > 0:21:08Rosetta was rated among the finest popular musicians of the day.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Here she is jamming with Duke Ellington at the piano
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and Cab Calloway on the right.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17# I can't sit down Because I just got to heaven
0:21:17 > 0:21:19# And I can't sit down... #
0:21:20 > 0:21:23In less than five years she had established herself
0:21:23 > 0:21:26in a tough, male dominated industry...
0:21:26 > 0:21:30singing the songs she chose to sing, in her own distinctive way.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34# Who's that yonder Dressed in white...? #
0:21:34 > 0:21:39She was rich, she was famous and she was loved by her fans.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43She was gospel's first superstar.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48She used to sing this song called The Fishes And Three Loaves Of Bread,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and, anywhere you went in the south,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54it was on the radio. That was a big hit.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Throughout the 40s, she spent much of her time on the road,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03playing to packed houses,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06accompanied by different gospel quartets.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10GOSPEL SINGING
0:22:12 > 0:22:15# Some day they'll see the Lord passing along... #
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The Dixie Hummingbirds started with Sister Rosetta in the 40s.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27They never made records together but they toured.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Sister Rosetta was always the headliner, because it was her show
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and she had the choice of who she wanted to go out with her.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38'And for many years she chose the Dixie Hummingbirds.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41'It was a very good mix.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47'People enjoyed the styles, because her style was kind of firey with the guitar and the Hummingbirds would
0:22:47 > 0:22:51'come out and they would jump down in the audience
0:22:51 > 0:22:54'and start singing and really relating to the people.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59'So it was a good mix and promoters loved it, because it always filled houses.'
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Sometimes we'd do things we'd never done, just playing around with it
0:23:04 > 0:23:09until we said "That sounds good. Let's try that again".
0:23:09 > 0:23:12And that's the way we created a lot of stuff.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18# I'm holding up the Bloodstained banner for my Lord
0:23:18 > 0:23:20In a highly segregated society,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24black and white musicians performing together was taboo.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29However, Rosetta was happy to defy convention.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33'She was more or less a pioneer in asking us to perform with her.'
0:23:33 > 0:23:36She called us her "Four little white babies"
0:23:36 > 0:23:41and I thought it was so cute that she referred to us in that way.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44That was something I'll never forget.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And we just loved to sing with her because when she started snapping
0:23:47 > 0:23:51her finger, man, and started singing on a tune you couldn't help but sing.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52# I'm going up to heaven
0:23:53 > 0:23:56# Oh, Lord, to get my reward Ooooh
0:23:56 > 0:23:58# Well, I'm working on the building... #
0:23:58 > 0:24:02'I know the first time we worked with her, they booked us'
0:24:02 > 0:24:07and we went to the stage door and some man came to the door
0:24:07 > 0:24:13and one of us said, "We're The Jordanaires", and he said
0:24:13 > 0:24:15"You're The Jordanaires?!
0:24:15 > 0:24:19"Well, this is going to be a surprise to our audience!"
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Sister Rosetta didn't tell them that we were white.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28She booked us, but she didn't tell them we were white.
0:24:28 > 0:24:34And when we first went out on stage, they didn't really know how to take us.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Then we started singing Working On The Building.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38'From then on in, we were in.'
0:24:39 > 0:24:41# I'm going up to heaven To get my reward
0:24:41 > 0:24:44# My reward! #
0:24:47 > 0:24:49# Listen everybody to the precious words
0:24:49 > 0:24:53# I'm gonna do some chirpin' And I ain't no bird! #
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Throughout World War II, America's segregated black soldiers
0:24:59 > 0:25:05not only adored Rosetta, but could claim her as one of their own.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Now we want you all cats to brush up your fur and be seated while we dish
0:25:09 > 0:25:11out a "diddle-a-ding-di-ow-dowtie!"
0:25:11 > 0:25:15And here's a girl who's gonna do the chirping for you - Sister Rosetta Tharpe!
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Sister Tharpe, say hello to Joel way, way out there.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Hello, Joel, way, way out there.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31- What are you going to sing, Sister? - Down By The Riverside.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42No films of Rosetta performing traditional gospel songs
0:25:42 > 0:25:44during the '40s exist today,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49but this 60s television recording captures the powerful stage presence
0:25:49 > 0:25:54and unique guitar style that she'd developed back in her hay-day.
0:25:54 > 0:26:00- # Down by the riverside - To study war no more... #'
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Everything she'd learned from her mother, everything she'd learned
0:26:04 > 0:26:08growing up in the Sanctified Church had stayed with her.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10'She was mesmerising!'
0:26:15 > 0:26:18- # To study - War no more
0:26:18 > 0:26:20# Yeah... #
0:26:20 > 0:26:23My sister and I thought she was the greatest.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25We'd never met a popular singer, only gospel singers.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29When we saw Rosetta Tharpe playing the guitar and singing
0:26:29 > 0:26:32we thought that was the greatest thing we'd ever seen in our lives.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34- # Well, well, well - Study war no more
0:26:34 > 0:26:38# No, no, no, no, no Study war no more... #
0:26:40 > 0:26:45'The audiences that Sister Rosetta performed in front of were average people.
0:26:45 > 0:26:51'They were people who worked, people trying to better themselves,'
0:26:51 > 0:26:55and this music was their inspiration.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00So when it came to a show that brought in people like Rosetta Tharpe,
0:27:00 > 0:27:05there were lines three or four times around the block.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Just to call her name, people would go crazy.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17The people just really loved her.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21All she had to do was walk out on stage and they knew they were going to get a good performance.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27'Before she left there, the public was part of her
0:27:27 > 0:27:31'and she was part of the public, and it was like family.'
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Rosetta had a one on one with everybody.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44There could be 800, 900, 1,000 people,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47but she had a one on one with you
0:27:47 > 0:27:53because she could make that music and make that guitar talk just like
0:27:53 > 0:27:55you were there with her, like you helped to write the song.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59# I'm gonna meet All of my brethren
0:27:59 > 0:28:02# Down by the riverside
0:28:02 > 0:28:04- # Don't you know? - Down by the riverside
0:28:04 > 0:28:07# Down by the riverside
0:28:07 > 0:28:09# I'm gonna meet all of my brethren
0:28:09 > 0:28:15- # Down by the riverside - # Yeah Yeah
0:28:15 > 0:28:19# I ain't gonna study Thank God not gonna study
0:28:19 > 0:28:22# Don't you know I'll not study
0:28:22 > 0:28:24# Study war no more
0:28:24 > 0:28:29# Hey Well, well
0:28:29 > 0:28:36# No, no, no, no Study war no more. #
0:28:47 > 0:28:52The biggest hit in Rosetta's entire career was Strange Things Happening Every Day,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57a song that reflected some of the stark contradictions of the times.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00# Oh we hear church people sing
0:29:00 > 0:29:03# They are in this holy way
0:29:03 > 0:29:08# There are strange things happening every day... #
0:29:08 > 0:29:11It was recorded at the end of the war, when prosperity and
0:29:11 > 0:29:17freedom were being proclaimed as the right of all Americans.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22The song expressed some of the sad ironies she was experiencing on the road.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26She was a star, but she was also black.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28- # Every day - Every day
0:29:28 > 0:29:32# There are strange things... #
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Sister Rosetta had a bus. She was the first person that
0:29:35 > 0:29:38ever had a bus with her name on the side of it that I knew.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42The back section was beds to sleep in,
0:29:42 > 0:29:47and that was something that I thought was very unusual.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52We couldn't stay in some hotels.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58We had to sleep on the bus so the bus was really a good idea.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06Being on the road with Sister Rosetta was very exciting
0:30:06 > 0:30:12because sometimes we met opposition
0:30:12 > 0:30:16and sometimes we met gladness.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Food and hotels, restaurants, all of this, they were all the same.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Water fountains, bathrooms,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33everything was segregated.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37They had to, as my father used to say, make do.
0:30:39 > 0:30:44# Jesus is the holy light Turning darkness into light... #
0:30:44 > 0:30:49We would go in and eat and we knew that she didn't have food on the bus.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Maybe she had crackers or cheese or
0:30:52 > 0:30:55peanut butter, something like that,
0:30:55 > 0:31:02but we would take what we ordered, we would get her the same thing
0:31:02 > 0:31:04and take it to her.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08- # Oh, every day - Every day
0:31:08 > 0:31:09# Yes, every day... #
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Sometimes we found someone that took a chance
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and say, "Come around to the back door,"
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and they would serve us,
0:31:20 > 0:31:26but we had to bring it back to the bus still. We couldn't eat it there.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35- # Up above my head - Up above my head
0:31:35 > 0:31:38- # I hear music in the air - I hear music in the air
0:31:38 > 0:31:41# Now, up above my head... #
0:31:41 > 0:31:44By the age of 30, Rosetta had survived two brief
0:31:44 > 0:31:49and unhappy marriages, and had had numerous affairs with men and women.
0:31:49 > 0:31:55The only constant person in her life was still her mother, Katie Bell.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58However, in the spring of 1946
0:31:58 > 0:32:01she encountered a young singer called Marie Knight.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05She was so impressed by her, she suggested they team up.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Together they recorded a hugely popular version
0:32:09 > 0:32:11of the gospel classic Up Above My Head.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17BOTH: # I really do believe Yes, I really do believe
0:32:17 > 0:32:20# There's a heaven somewhere Heaven somewhere... #
0:32:20 > 0:32:24One of the things that made Marie and Rosetta so special as performers
0:32:24 > 0:32:27was that they were two women who could go on the road
0:32:27 > 0:32:31without any accompaniment but themselves.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Marie was a piano player and percussion player.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Rosetta performed on the piano as well as the guitar,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41and so the two of them together had their entire band with them.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46- # Up above my head - Up above my head
0:32:46 > 0:32:49- # I hear music in the air - I hear music in the air
0:32:49 > 0:32:52- # Up above my head - Up above my head
0:32:52 > 0:32:55- # I hear music in the air - I hear trouble in the air
0:32:55 > 0:32:58- # Up above my head - He-he-head
0:32:58 > 0:33:01- # I hear music in the air - Whoa-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
0:33:01 > 0:33:04BOTH: # And I really do believe Yes, I really believe
0:33:04 > 0:33:06# There's a heaven somewhere... #
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Marie Knight and Sister Rosetta Tharpe were a perfect pair.
0:33:10 > 0:33:16The music was so wonderful that they generated together,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19they were so unified on the stage.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Together they could rock the house.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Back then, two women on the road together
0:33:24 > 0:33:29without any men to accompany them was not only novel but pretty risky.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32But it was a risk that Rosetta was prepared to take.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37They were lovers, at least according to
0:33:37 > 0:33:41many, many of their friends at the time.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43Within certain circles they could probably be
0:33:43 > 0:33:46a little bit open about it, but within the wider world
0:33:46 > 0:33:50that would have ruined careers, it would have ruined reputations.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53I think it was an open secret in the entertainment worlds
0:33:53 > 0:33:54in which they moved.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02In 1950, while Rosetta and Marie were performing in California,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Marie's mother and two small children were killed in a fire.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Traumatised by the loss, Marie drifted away,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12leaving Rosetta to carry on alone.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16Their dream of independence together was over.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26MUSIC: Wagner's Bridal Chorus
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Less than a year after breaking up with Marie,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Rosetta took the most outrageous decision of her life
0:34:32 > 0:34:37when two concert promoters came up with an audacious publicity stunt.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Their plan was to stage Rosetta's third wedding
0:34:39 > 0:34:44in Washington's huge Griffith Stadium.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49They would sell tickets to her fans and the recording rights to Decca.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Rosetta agreed to go along with the plan,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57but there was just one problem - she had no-one in mind to marry.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01But just weeks before the big day, she found Russell Morrison,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04a minor player in the music industry
0:35:04 > 0:35:08who offered to be both her third husband and her manager.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14Tell the truth, I was surprised when she said she was getting married...
0:35:15 > 0:35:18..and Russell was going to be the groom.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25So she records her wedding ceremony
0:35:25 > 0:35:28and the concert that follows it in 1951.
0:35:28 > 0:35:3025,000 people come out
0:35:30 > 0:35:33and pay admission prices to attend her wedding.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36They bring wedding gifts for her, they bring crystal,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40they bring dishes for her.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Someone even buys her a television set.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46It's a total show-biz move, and at the same time,
0:35:46 > 0:35:52it's a wedding ceremony conducted by a minister, a real wedding ceremony.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Rosetta was standing on the pitcher's mound
0:36:04 > 0:36:06and they had everybody around her,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09and all of the matrons of honour and all these people who were
0:36:09 > 0:36:12probably who were probably folks that the promoters got together.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18But they were all there, and it was just a wonderful, wonderful show.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22- ORIGINAL RECORDING:- I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you
0:36:22 > 0:36:25to Griffith Stadium where you are about to be guests
0:36:25 > 0:36:27at the wedding of Sister Rosetta Tharpe,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30at which there will be a great spiritual concert
0:36:30 > 0:36:31followed by fireworks.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34And it was nice to see that a lot of her friends had stuck with her
0:36:34 > 0:36:36and were part of the wedding party.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Lucky Millinder was there, Marie Knight is there
0:36:39 > 0:36:41and The Rosettes are there.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47That stadium was packed.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52It was packed.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I don't see how they could get anybody else in.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58It was like a circus.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07- ORIGINAL RECORDING:- Rosetta, will you have this man to be thy wedded husband?
0:37:07 > 0:37:09To live together after God's ordinance
0:37:09 > 0:37:11in the holy state of matrimony?
0:37:12 > 0:37:16It resonated throughout the entire country.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20It was in newspapers, people talked about it.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22My parents were so excited about it.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26For a month in my house before that wedding was just crazy.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31Take him by his right hand, Rosetta.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Hold it.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37- I, Rosetta...- I, Rosetta...
0:37:37 > 0:37:40- Take thee, Russell... - Take thee, Russell...
0:37:40 > 0:37:46It was like she was Cinderella, you know,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49and Russell was Prince Charming.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51It was a storybook thing.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55..that they are man and wife.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Kiss the bride.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59Man and wife.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07I didn't go to Sister's wedding to Russell.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10I just figured it was another something
0:38:10 > 0:38:13that she had gotten herself into.
0:38:13 > 0:38:19After meeting Russell, I figured he just wanted easy living.
0:38:19 > 0:38:25I said to myself, "Oh, my goodness, she is doing it again."
0:38:26 > 0:38:29- # Don't you know, he's so - So high you can't get over him
0:38:29 > 0:38:32- # So low - So low you can't get under him
0:38:32 > 0:38:34- # So high - So high you can't get... #
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Sadly, the misgivings shared by Rosetta's friends
0:38:37 > 0:38:38proved all too accurate.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42While the wedding did boost her record sales briefly,
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Russell the manager was out of his depth.
0:38:48 > 0:38:54Russell just, like a cool breeze, just came right in,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56took over.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00He wasn't really a manager.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02He THOUGHT he was a manager.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05Of course, so many times when they think they are,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08they aren't, and that's bad.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13It was very clear that he was living off her talent
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and it was very clear that he was two-timing her.
0:39:17 > 0:39:23Many people, especially people close to her like Marie Knight,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25were furious with him.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29In spite of all the criticism,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Rosetta remained married to Russell for the next 22 years.
0:39:38 > 0:39:43Meanwhile, back in the Mississippi Delta of Rosetta's childhood,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46young white musicians were just beginning to discover
0:39:46 > 0:39:50the raw energy and complex rhythms of African American gospel.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53There was a hip thing happening in Memphis at that time.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56There was a little church,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and it was a cool thing to do on Sunday nights only,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01you would go there,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and there would be Elvis and some of the other guys from the area.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07It was unusual, because back in those days
0:40:07 > 0:40:10white people had to sit in the back.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13It was roped off. We would sit back there
0:40:13 > 0:40:17and watch these black spiritual singers sing on Sunday night.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30Of course, this was the music that Sister Rosetta had brought out of
0:40:30 > 0:40:33the church and into the wider world nearly 20 years earlier.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38The thing that gospel spiritual music brought
0:40:38 > 0:40:40to popular music was feeling.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45Gospel spiritual music put the guts and the feeling
0:40:45 > 0:40:47and the real soul into it.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52People like Elvis and Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis and
0:40:52 > 0:40:55Carl Perkins and those guys, Buddy Holly if you will,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58they saw that and they adapted to that,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02and that, really, was the essence of rock and roll.
0:41:10 > 0:41:11Thinking about it,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Sister Rosetta Tharpe, she had this great feeling,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and that is what Elvis was looking for - feeling -
0:41:18 > 0:41:20because that is where it all came from.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24She gave a lot people ideas about how to perform.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28The way she performed a song, the way she picked a song,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32the way she presented it, was an inspiration
0:41:32 > 0:41:34to anybody who stood around and watched her,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36and they all watched her.
0:41:37 > 0:41:38Let's do that again!
0:41:57 > 0:41:59She had a major impact on artists like Elvis Presley.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03When you see Elvis Presley singing early songs in his career,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07I think if you imagine that he is channelling Rosetta Tharpe.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10It's not an image that I think we are used to thinking about
0:42:10 > 0:42:11in rock and roll history.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15We don't think of about the black woman behind the young white man.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19At this point, a middle-aged black woman behind a young white man.
0:42:20 > 0:42:26All the kids who grew up in the '40s and '50s knew of her as a superstar.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31That was the singing that all these fellows had in their ears.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34The rhythm they heard, the instrumentation they heard
0:42:34 > 0:42:38would have been the sanctified piano and the kind of guitar
0:42:38 > 0:42:41that they knew from Rosetta's records.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45So, I think it is very fair to say that there's a bit of her
0:42:45 > 0:42:49snuck up in all of rock and roll.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52# Up above my head
0:42:52 > 0:42:55# Music in the air... #
0:43:12 > 0:43:15By the late '50s, rock and roll was here to stay.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Its idols were young, white men,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22not middle-aged black women. Rosetta, it seemed,
0:43:22 > 0:43:26was on her way out, and the bookings were drying up fast.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30She and Russell, along with her aging mother, were forced to move
0:43:30 > 0:43:33into this small row house in the city of Philadelphia.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40The reason Rosetta's career went south,
0:43:40 > 0:43:44very simply is that because Rosetta didn't keep up with the times.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49Rosetta was still singing, in 1954, '55,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52the songs she had recorded in 1938.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56In fact, it was remarkable that she kept any career going
0:43:56 > 0:43:59when she had really become, essentially, an oldie's act.
0:44:03 > 0:44:09Then, in 1957, Rosetta got a call from one of her most devoted fans -
0:44:09 > 0:44:11a white musician in Britain.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Chris Barber, the popular Dixieland-style jazz trombonist,
0:44:20 > 0:44:25booked her to go on tour with him and his band for a month.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28We got our agent to contact her somehow.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32We actually paid her to come to Britain. It was so simple.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37It was marvellous working with her. She was unbelievably good.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40We learnt, as we thought we would, an enormous amount
0:44:40 > 0:44:44from even the first day with her, never mind the whole month's tour.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03Basically speaking,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06her guitar by itself was as loud as my entire band.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08It didn't bother anybody.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11It was beautiful music. It was loud. Didn't matter.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13It was enthralling, totally enthralling.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17Everything she did was totally enthralling and totally convincing.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22# This train is a clean train, this train
0:45:22 > 0:45:28# I said this train is a clean train, yes, this train
0:45:28 > 0:45:31# You know this train is a clean train
0:45:31 > 0:45:34# Everybody ride it in his name
0:45:34 > 0:45:38# This train is a clean train, this train... #
0:45:41 > 0:45:45Booked as little more than a supporting novelty act,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Sister Rosetta stole the show.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53Until now British audiences had only seen white imitations
0:45:53 > 0:45:59of blues and gospel, but here, on stage for the very first time,
0:45:59 > 0:46:00was the real thing.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07Her new-found popularity quickly caught the attention
0:46:07 > 0:46:10of bookers and promoters all across Europe.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15Sister Rosetta was a star reborn, discovering new fans.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35By the early '60s, her influence was continuing to spread
0:46:35 > 0:46:38as yet another generation fell under her spell.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Here is a recording of Bob Dylan speaking about Rosetta on the radio.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Sister Rosetta Tharpe was anything but ordinary and plain.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55She was a big, good-looking woman, and divine,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58not to mention sublime and splendid.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00She was a powerful force of nature,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03a guitar-playing, singing evangelist.
0:47:03 > 0:47:09# ..is a clean train Everybody ride it if you can... #
0:47:09 > 0:47:13You know, she travelled to England with Muddy Waters and a whole bunch
0:47:13 > 0:47:16of other blues performers in the early '60s, and I'm sure
0:47:16 > 0:47:19there are a lot of young English guys
0:47:19 > 0:47:22who picked up an electric guitar after getting a look at her.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27# ..is standing in the station This train is waiting on all of you
0:47:27 > 0:47:29# Come on, then, let's go... #
0:47:42 > 0:47:46In the summer of 1964, Rosetta was booked by Granada Television
0:47:46 > 0:47:49to perform in a folk, blues and gospel special.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56The musicians were American, the audience English students,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00the venue a disused railway station - Chorlton-cum-Hardy,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02just outside Manchester.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09The Manchester gig was a curiosity in the middle of the tour for us.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13It was kind of bizarre. But, you know, we were all new to England,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16and we were aware of all this interest in blues and gospel.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23We all thought it was strange,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25the setup with the audience on one platform
0:48:25 > 0:48:27and the musicians on the other.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38And she rose to the occasion.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41She loved the drama of the situation,
0:48:41 > 0:48:46trying to bridge that gap between the platforms,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51sell the whole thing across the track to the audience.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57By now Rosetta was 49 years old
0:48:57 > 0:49:01and she had been on the road for more than 40 of those years.
0:49:01 > 0:49:07But even in cold, wet and windy England, the magic was still there.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11The inimitable Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Oh, the sweet horsey. Oh, the sweet horsey.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23Oh.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26This is the wonderfullest time of my life.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28And the people are so sweet to stay here.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32- Oh, ain't they sweet? - And I'm coming over!- Yes!
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Let me tell you what...
0:49:37 > 0:49:38Oh, yeah!
0:50:04 > 0:50:08# Didn't it rain, children?
0:50:08 > 0:50:10# Rain, oh, yes
0:50:10 > 0:50:13# Didn't it? Yes Didn't it? You know it did
0:50:13 > 0:50:17# Didn't it? Oh, oh, yes
0:50:17 > 0:50:19# How it rained
0:50:19 > 0:50:22# I said it rained, children
0:50:23 > 0:50:25# Rained, oh, yes
0:50:25 > 0:50:28# Didn't it? Yes Didn't it? You know it did
0:50:28 > 0:50:29# Didn't it?
0:50:29 > 0:50:33# Oh, my Lord, how it rained
0:50:58 > 0:51:01# Somebody at the window Somebody at the door
0:51:01 > 0:51:04# Some crying, "Brother Noah can't you take on more?"
0:51:04 > 0:51:06# But, "No," he cried out "Uh-uh, my friends
0:51:06 > 0:51:09# The angel's got the key and you can't get in"
0:51:09 > 0:51:12# I know it rain, you know it rain
0:51:12 > 0:51:15# Rain too long, all night long
0:51:15 > 0:51:18# Rain all day, rain all night
0:51:18 > 0:51:21# Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain
0:51:21 > 0:51:23# Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain
0:51:23 > 0:51:26# Rain, children
0:51:26 > 0:51:29# Rain, oh, yes
0:51:29 > 0:51:31# Didn't it? Yes, Didn't it? You know it did
0:51:31 > 0:51:33# Didn't it?
0:51:33 > 0:51:37# Oh, my Lord, how it rained! #
0:51:48 > 0:51:53Sister Rosetta was a huge success on the tour.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57She did great. Audiences loved her.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59She was very happy, everybody was happy.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Oh, I love you so, my English friends,
0:52:08 > 0:52:12forever and ever until I leave this world.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21While Rosetta was away in Europe enjoying the upturn in her career,
0:52:21 > 0:52:27back in Philadelphia, her mother was becoming increasingly frail.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31In 1968, Katie Bell died.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36For 53 years she had stuck close by her daughter
0:52:36 > 0:52:38through good times and bad
0:52:38 > 0:52:43as the one constant figure reminding Rosetta of her faith in God.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51The loss took a heavy toll on Rosetta.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53She became increasingly depressed,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and to make matters worse, she was diagnosed with diabetes.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02I'm going to sing a song
0:53:02 > 0:53:05that maybe you wouldn't understand it and maybe you do,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08a song that I love so dearly,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11and I have so many friends here in Copenhagen,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14for many, many years I've been coming here,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16and then some time, my friends...
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Made in 1970 in Denmark,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22this is the last known recording of Sister Rosetta performing.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Maybe you wouldn't understand that, but someone died
0:53:26 > 0:53:29who they dearly love, and mine did too,
0:53:29 > 0:53:34my mother died two years ago and left me alone.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36But nevertheless, I have you.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41I went to see her, and she had this black spot on her foot.
0:53:41 > 0:53:48I said, "Sister, what is that?" and she said, "I don't know."
0:53:48 > 0:53:51I said, "Sister, go see about that, please!"
0:53:52 > 0:53:53That's going to happen.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55But there is a divine power.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59I believe it - I don't know about you, but I got to believe it,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02because I was raised that way.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04I sing this song.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08# Because Lord
0:54:11 > 0:54:13# Take my hand
0:54:16 > 0:54:22# Lead me on
0:54:22 > 0:54:24# And let me stand
0:54:27 > 0:54:31# I'm tired and I've worked so hard
0:54:32 > 0:54:34# And I'm weak
0:54:36 > 0:54:39# My body is worn
0:54:41 > 0:54:44# Whoa, yes
0:54:44 > 0:54:46# But I got to go anyhow
0:54:46 > 0:54:49# Through the storm... #
0:54:49 > 0:54:52She wouldn't listen to anybody.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55So, the next thing,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57foot started turning black.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59Then she did have to go to the doctor,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02then they found out they had to cut her leg off.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06# ..just the same... #
0:55:06 > 0:55:08Sometimes she would call me and say,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11"Sister, please come, please come to see me,"
0:55:11 > 0:55:15and I would say, "All right, I'm coming."
0:55:15 > 0:55:21But the last few months I didn't go, because Russell was acting like
0:55:21 > 0:55:23he didn't want nobody taking over from him.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25When I went over to see Aunt Sis,
0:55:25 > 0:55:30she was in the bed and she would say, "Where's Russell?"
0:55:30 > 0:55:32I'd say, "Downstairs," and she would say,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35"He's asking you about shows, right?"
0:55:35 > 0:55:37and I'd say "No, he didn't say anything!"
0:55:37 > 0:55:40"Yes, he is! He wants to know if I'm going back,"
0:55:40 > 0:55:42she said, "And I'm going back,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45"but I'm not going to tell anybody when I'm coming back.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48"But I am coming back." But she never did.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50# My body
0:55:54 > 0:55:58# Is all
0:55:58 > 0:56:01# Suffering in pain
0:56:02 > 0:56:05# Whoa, yes
0:56:05 > 0:56:08# I got no-one to call on
0:56:08 > 0:56:14# Hear my cry
0:56:14 > 0:56:16# Hear my call
0:56:18 > 0:56:22# Please, hold my hand
0:56:23 > 0:56:26# Lest I fall
0:56:26 > 0:56:29# Hmmm
0:56:29 > 0:56:31# Take my hand
0:56:31 > 0:56:34# Whoa!
0:56:34 > 0:56:36# Precious Lord
0:56:38 > 0:56:40# Lead me on... #
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Rosetta's funeral was very quiet.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45It wasn't any big thing.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48It was no elaborate funeral, I can tell you that.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51The church was half-full,
0:56:51 > 0:56:57and Rosetta looked the best I had seen her in years.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02Marie Knight, her old partner, she made Rosetta up.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07She took care of her coiffure, of her makeup,
0:57:07 > 0:57:11of how the fabrics looked and made her as glamorous as possible.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13She looked a star.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21I think I said, "She would sing until you cried,
0:57:21 > 0:57:26"and then she would sing until you danced for joy.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30"She kept the church alive and the saints rejoicing."
0:57:30 > 0:57:35# Down at the river
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# Oh, stinging
0:57:41 > 0:57:43# Cut my feet
0:57:43 > 0:57:47# Please, hold my trembling hand
0:57:47 > 0:57:51# Hmmm
0:57:51 > 0:57:53# And take my hand
0:57:53 > 0:57:58# Oh, precious Lord
0:57:59 > 0:58:05# Lead
0:58:05 > 0:58:09# Me on. #
0:58:17 > 0:58:20APPLAUSE
0:58:31 > 0:58:35In 2008, some 35 years after Rosetta's death,
0:58:35 > 0:58:38the Governor of Pennsylvania declared
0:58:38 > 0:58:41that henceforth the 11th January
0:58:41 > 0:58:45will be known as Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day.
0:58:52 > 0:58:55- # Up above my head - Up above my head
0:58:55 > 0:58:58- # I hear music in the air - I hear music in the air
0:58:58 > 0:59:01- # Now, up above my head - Up above my head
0:59:01 > 0:59:04- # You know I hear music in the air - I hear music in the air
0:59:04 > 0:59:07- # Up above my head - Up above my head
0:59:07 > 0:59:10- # I hear music in the air - I hear music in the air
0:59:10 > 0:59:13- # And I really do believe - And I really do believe
0:59:13 > 0:59:16BOTH: # There's a heaven somewhere Heaven somewhere. #