Marie Knight

At age 5, Marie Knight was a vocalist in her church choir where she was quickly elevated to soloist and soon taught herself to play piano. By her early twenties she had toured the national gospel circuit with evangelist Frances Robinson and recorded with The Sunset Four. In 1946, she met Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the renowned gospel singer-guitarist, who recognized Knight’s talents. The two became gospel’s preeminent duo of the 1940’s, recording hits for Decca Records, such as “Didn’t It Rain,” “Up Above My Head,” and “Beams of Heaven.” They played to rapturous audiences across the country, on one occasion pulling 27,000 people into Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. In the late 1940s, Knight and Tharpe split to pursue separate projects, though they reunited frequently on stage during the 1950s. Knight began to cultivate a rhythm-and-blues career in the 1960s, touring with Brooke Benton, the Drifters, and Clyde McPhatter. After a hiatus, she re-emerged in the 1970s to record gospel music again, and in 2003 she was recruited to sing a track for the highly successful CD, Shout Sister Shout, A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Since then, Knight has performed on the syndicated radio programs Mountain Stage and Wood Songs Radio Hour and has been interviewed for NPR’s Weekend Edition. Knight was also part of two successful tribute shows in New York City with The Holmes Brothers and Odetta. Her most recent collaboration with producer Mark Carpentieri led to her latest release, Let Us Get Together, featuring the Gospel songs of the Rev. Gary Davis and marking her first full length recording in over 20 years. Marie Knight will be accompanied by pianist, Dave Keyes.

$22/$17 Members & Students. Available in advance, by phone or in person, at the Outpost Performance Space (268-0044)

Marie Night will also perform in Silver City at the Silver City Blues Festival on Sunday May 25. For info go to www.mimbresarts.org or call 1-888-758-7289.