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Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Hymn to Her

David Burke, Vintage Rock, May 2018

THE GODMOTHER of Rock'n'Roll, the Original Soul Sister, the First Lady of Rock are just some of the epithets posthumously bestowed on Sister Rosetta Tharpe – the electric guitar-toting gospel singer who was a seminal influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard – in the decades following her 1973 death. Now finally, the trailblazing Tharpe is being honoured by the curators of a genre she played no small part in creating, with her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this April.

Total word count of piece: 3125

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