Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a gospel singer and guitarist whose virtuosic electric guitar playing and charismatic performance style made her one of the true progenitors of rock and roll. She was one of the first popular musicians to use heavy distortion on the electric guitar, and her recordings of 'Strange Things Happening Every Day,' 'Up Above My Head,' and 'Didn't It Rain' in the 1940s anticipated rock and roll by a decade. She scandalized the gospel world by recording secular music and performing in nightclubs, but her crossover success brought her enormous popularity. Her influence on Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis has been extensively documented, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.