After the war, Tharpe started working with Sammy Price and produced a famous spiritual single, "Strange Things Happening Everyday," with Decca Records. She soon gained a celebrity status and even became a legend amongst black soldiers fighting in World War II. She went around the back end of restaurants to pick up food because they wouldn't let her in. On tour, all restaurants and hotels were still segregated, so Tharpe slept on buses. Despite her fame, institutional racism in the mid-1940s was still rampant. She even teamed up with the Jordanaires, an all-white male group, and began performing for mixed audiences. In 1941, she began travelling widely with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, a notable swing band, and recorded the likes of "I Want a Tall Skinny Papa" with them. ![]() She collaborated with heavy-hitting artists of the time, like Duke Ellington and the Dixie Hummingbirds. "Rock Me," which showcased Tharpe's distinctive guitar style and melodic blues mixed with traditional gospel music, made her a trailblazer - as did the range of her voice, which resounded with conviction as she sang the words "rock me!" With this song, she made it plain that her words could not only transcend lines of faith, but could also represent a shift in popular music in real time.Īs a young black woman working within a heavily male-dominated industry in the 1940s, Tharpe wasn't shy about rattling conventions. Tharpe's lyrics unabashedly flirted with her openness of love and sexuality, an approach that left her gospel audience speechless. She was only 23 at the time, a feat that was only amplified when she scored her first single, "Rock Me," a gospel and rock 'n' roll fusion, along with three other gospel songs: "My Man and I," "That's All" and "Lonesome Road." Her persistence and grit paid off, and by 1938, she had joined the Cotton Club Revue, a New York City club that became especially notable during the Prohibition era. But Tharpe - young and innovative - was determined to keep experimenting with her sound. Female guitarists were rare, and even more so was a musician who pursued both religious and secular themes, a fact that alarmed the gospel community. ![]() Although Tharpe's distinctive voice and unconventional style attracted fans, it was still the mid-1930s.
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