Rosetta Tharpe, considered gospel music's first crossover artist and known as "the original soul sister" and the "Godmother of rock and roll," was born on March 20, 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and began performing at age four. A singing and guitar-playing sensation, she was accompanied by her mother, Church of God in Christ evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, and her singing talent likely came from her father, Willis Atkins. In 1938, she performed at the Cotton Club in New York for an all-white audience thrilled by her sound and style, which brought together Delta blues, swing, jazz, and gospel music. That same year, she signed with Decca Records, where her recordings of "Rock Me," "That's All," "My Man and I," and "The Lonesome Road," the first gospel songs ever recorded by Decca, became instant hits and established her as gospel's first great recording star. She was an early influence on Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gordon Stoker said Elvis was particularly attracted to her unique guitar-picking style. Tharpe died on October 9, 1973, at age 58 and is buried in Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia. She was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2012, the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame in the Cotton Plant Historical Museum in 2014, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.