Guitar heroine

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The Jimi Hendrix Experience [Photo provided to China Daily]

The "godmother of rock 'n' roll" was born on March 20, 1915 into an Arkansas family steeped in gospel music – a fervent style of black American religious singing and rhythmic expression. This exuberant music spilled out into the wider world, influencing styles from jazz and blues to big band, and Tharpe was to become gospel's chief emissary.

A child prodigy, Tharpe toured the American South with her mother, playing to religious audiences. Even then, aside from her warm and passionate singing, she was noted for her unique guitar playing, a rarity for a young female black artist. At 19, she married a fellow evangelical trouper and preacher named Thomas Thorpe. The touring only intensified. (She would acquire two more demanding husband-managers, but the love of her life was probably fellow gospel singer and church member Marie Knight.) Though they divorced after a few years, Tharpe kept a variant of his name as her stage moniker.

Her renown was such that a recording career in New York City followed. And she was a hit – but not with everyone. Her religious fans were scandalised by the suggestive songs she was given to perform – often minus the guitar, all the better to show off her risqué dance moves. The lyrics seemed to suggest a devotional shift, especially the uptempo jump-blues of "Five Times a Night" or "Tall Skinny Papa".

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