Beverley Knight on Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock and roll
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
She influenced Elvis, Johnny Cash, Churck Berry, Little Richard and host of British blues acts of the 1960s. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with her Gibson SG and wondrous voice, was a pioneer, and she's been nominated for Great Lives by Beverley Knight, singing star turned west end actress. The programme also features the great Joe Boyd, who was tour manager of the Blues and Gospel Caravan that came to Britain in 1964 with Sister Rosetta and Muddy Waters too. This is a show you have to hear. Also features archive of Little Richard, Dionne Warwick, and Sister Rosetta's biographer Gayle Wald, author of Shout, Sister, Shout!
Beverley Knight's hits include Shoulda Coulda Woulda and she won an Olivier award for her role as Emmeline Pankhurts in Sylvia at the Old Vic in London; she is currently appearing in Marie and Rosetta in the West End. The presenter is Matthew Parris, the producer Miles Warde.
Future guests on the series include Alistair McGowan, Coco Khan, Ade Edmondson and Count Binface who has picked Peter Cook.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind. |
| 0:12.7 | From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident. |
| 0:16.6 | Or tips on how to focus. |
| 0:18.5 | Sorry, what will you say? |
| 0:19.7 | If it matters to you, it matters to us. |
| 0:22.6 | Feel good inside of them. |
| 0:24.3 | With What's Up Docs. |
| 0:25.9 | And Complex with Kimberly Wilson. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:36.5 | Today's guest is a singer, songwriter, award-winning actress, and a campaigner. |
| 0:42.5 | She also has a beautiful voice, and that possibly influences her choice of her great life. |
| 0:49.6 | Beverly Knight, welcome to our series. |
| 0:52.4 | Tell us, whom have you picked and why? I have picked the wonderful |
| 0:57.1 | Sister Rosetta Tharp, a name which perhaps is not commonly dropped in conversations about music |
| 1:05.3 | great, but she should be, because she is, for me, on Mount Rushmore of the founding people of rock and roll. |
| 1:16.1 | She deserves her place, the godmother. |
| 1:19.0 | Why haven't we heard more about her? |
| 1:20.8 | It's a time in which she lived. |
| 1:23.0 | She was born in 1915, Cotton Plant, Arkansas, the deep south. Her story |
| 1:29.4 | was not deemed as being |
... |
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