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Contact: Mark Carpentieri
631-754-8725
M.C. Records is proud to announce that Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be part of the class of 2007 going to the
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. In 2003 M.C. Records released the only tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Shout Sister Shout featuring such artists as Joan Osborne, Maria Muldaur, Odetta, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Toshi Reagon, Bonnie Raitt, Marcia Ball and Phoebe Snow to name a few. Also included in the Tribute was Tharpe's longtime singing and songwriting partner, Marie Knight. Marie Knight is currently working on her first full length in over 20 years, A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis. Producing and performing on the CD is guitarist Larry
Campbell. His recording and production work includes Bob Dylan, Ollabelle, Dixie Humming birds, Paul Simon and B.B. King. The release will come out in June 2007.
The induction ceremony will be conducted in
association with The Blues Foundation's Charter Member Dinner, Wednesday, May 9, in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before the 2007 Blues Music Awards.
The official Blues Foundation press release follows:
The following esteemed individuals and recordings have been selected for induction into the Blues Hall of Fame by The Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame committee, chaired by Jim O'Neal, founding editor of Living Blues and David Sanjek, BMI Archives.
2007 Inductees include living performers Dave Bartholomew and Dr. John and the late artists, Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Ahmet Ertegun and
Art Rupe are the non-performers inducted this year. The book BluesWith a Feeling: The Little Walter Story by T. Glover, Scott Dirks, and Ward Gaines
was selected as were the following singles or album tracks: "Black Angel Blues" – Robert Nighthawk (Aristocrat); "Death Letter" – Son House (Columbia album track); "Hideaway" – Freddy King
(Federal); and "I Pity the Fool" – Bobby Blue Bland (Duke). These albums were chosen as well: Driving Wheel by Little Jr. Parker (Duke); Down and Out Blues by Sonny Boy Williamson
(Chess); Angola Prisoners' Blues by various artists featuring Robert Pete Williams, Hogman Maxey, and Guitar Welch (Folk Lyric/Arhoolie).
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was one of the foremost African-American celebrities of the 1940s and early 1950s, an exhilarating performer with an impressive fingerpicking guitar style. She sang Gospel music for most of her
career, but crossed over into Jazz, Blues, and Rhythm & Blues. Her 1945 recording of "Strange Things Happening Every Day" has even been called an early example of Rock 'n' Roll. She toured or recorded with
Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Lucky Millinder, and Sammy Price among others, and collaborated with Marie Knight
to form one of the top Gospel acts of the early post-World War II era. Some members of the religious community met her forays into secular music with outrage. Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, on March 20, 1915, and died in Philadelphia on October 9, 1973. Among those who have cited her as an influence are
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Etta James, Little Richard, and Isaac Hayes. Her biography, Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Gayle Wald has just been published by Beacon Press.
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