Marie Knight first realized her vocal gifts while singing in church as a young girl. She's been letting it show ever since. Raised in Newark, N.J., Knight began touring the national gospel circuit with evangelist Frances Robinson while still in her 20s. In 1946, she first met her longtime musical partner, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The two would become one of the most popular duos in gospel music throughout the 1940s, and recorded several hit sides with Decca.
Knight maintained some success in the R&B scene of the '60s, but returned to gospel music in the '70s. In 2002, she re-worked an old hit, "Didn't It Rain," as part of a tribute to Tharpe. This began her new partnership with Mark Carpentieri and M.C. Records, which released her 2007 tribute to the Rev. Gary Davis, Let Us Get Together.
Today, Knight is a minister at Gates of Prayer Church in New York, and her evangelical talents are heard loud and clear in her ability to work a crowd. She performs live here, accompanied by guitarist Ernie Hawkins.
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