Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a pioneering guitarist and singer who became known as the “godmother of rock and roll” and the “original soul sister.” She was born in 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. Her mother was a singer and mandolin player who performed at her local church. Sister Tharpe proved herself to be a prodigy and picked up the guitar at the age of four. By the age of six she was touring the South with a traveling evangelical troupe that included her mother. At the age of twenty-three, she recorded her first albums with Decca Records. Her first recordings, which were a mix of gospel and what would later be known as rock and roll music, were instant hits. Sister Tharpe was a pioneer in her guitar technique, which featured heavy distortion. She was the first great gospel recording artist and brought gospel music into the mainstream. She also influenced several musicians, including Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Carl Perkins. Sister Tharpe continued recording and traveling on tour, gaining a worldwide following. She died in 1973 at the age of fifty-eight. Sister Tharpe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence in 2018.
Sister Gertrude Morgan was an American artist, musician, poet, and preacher. She was born in 1900 in LaFayette, Alabama. Sister Morgan left school before she completed the third grade. Sometime around 1917 her family moved to Columbus, Georgia, where she worked as a servant and a nursemaid. In 1939, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she lived until her death. Throughout her life, Sister Morgan received many revelations from God. In 1956, God urged her to begin painting. Her paintings depicted religious subjects. Sister Morgan was a street preacher, and she used both music and her artwork in her sermons. Around 1960, Sister Morgan met an art dealer while preaching on the street. He invited her to his gallery to perform and display her work, and her popularity took off. She worked with whatever material was available to her, including cardboard, window shades, Styrofoam trays, plastic utensils, jelly glasses, blocks of wood, her guitar case, and the back of a “For Sale” sign that a real estate agent placed outside her home. She began exhibiting her work at galleries all around the country. Sister Morgan died in 1980.
Yolanda Adams is an American gospel singer, record producer, actress, author, and radio show host. She was born in Houston, Texas, in 1961. She earned a degree in radio/television broadcasting from Texas Southern University and went to work as a teacher after college. Adams first gained attention as a singer with Houston’s Southeast Inspirational Choir, where she was a lead singer. In 1982, the choir released a single called “For My Liberty” that featured her as the vocalist. Her first mainstream breakthrough came with the release of Mountain High… Valley Low in 1999. The album won a Grammy award and went double platinum. Adams went on to win four more Grammy Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards, and sixteen Stellar Awards. She made history as the first gospel musician to win an American Music Award. In 2009, she was named Billboard magazine’s top-selling gospel artist from 1999–2009. In 2016, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer work. In 2017, she was inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame. She hosted a radio program, The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, from 2007–2016. In 2010, she published her book Points of Power. The title comes from one of the segments on her radio program. Adams was the spokesperson for Operation Rebound, a program sponsored by FILA Corporation that helped inner-city
schoolchildren. She said, “I truly believe that my songs bring the answers and the solutions, as opposed to just talking about the problems. My music at its core is joyful.”
This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Black Women by Becca Anderson and MJ Fievre, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.
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