Marie Knight (née Roach; June 1, 1920 – August 30, 2009) was an American

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and R&B singer.

Personal life

She was born Marie RoachSeamus McGarvey, "Marie Knight: I Hear Music In the Air", interview and article in '' Juke Blues'' magazine, #68, 2009 in 1920,Obituary
nytimes.com, September 3, 2009; accessed December 13, 2015. though she claimed to have been born in 1925. Sources differ as to her place of birth – either Attapulgus, Georgia, or

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city and the county seat of Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is located in Central Florida and its population was 61,051 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical ...

– but she grew up in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. Her father was a construction worker and the family were members of the

Church of God in Christ The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Christian perfection#Holiness Pentecostalism, Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and a large Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi ...

. She first toured as a singer in 1939 with Frances Robinson, an evangelist. She married preacher Albert Knight in 1941 but the union ended in divorce. While she was touring with Sister Rosetta in the 1940s, her two children died in a fire at her mother's house in New Jersey. Knight died in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

of complications from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, on August 30, 2009, aged 89. She was survived by a sister, Bernice Henry.

Musical career

In 1946, Knight made her first recordings, for Haven Records with the masters soon purchased by

Signature Records Signature Records was a jazz record company and label founded in 1939 by Bob Thiele when he was 17 years old. Its roster included Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, and Lester Young. At age 14, Thiele was a disc jockey for his own jazz ...

, as a member of The Sunset Four (aka The Sunset Jubilee Singers). Shortly afterwards,

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spirit ...

saw her singing at the Golden Gate Auditorium in

, on a bill with

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel music, gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was ...

, and invited Knight to join her on tour. Tharpe recognized "something special" in Marie's contralto voice. She continued to record and perform with Tharpe through the 1940s, sometimes acting out the parts of "the Saint and the Sinner", with Tharpe as the saint and Knight as the sinner. Among their successes were the songs "Beams of heaven", "Didn't it rain", and " Up above my head", recorded for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. "Up above my head", credited jointly to both singers, reached No. 6 on the US

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

at the end of 1948, and Knight's solo version of "Gospel train" reached No. 9 on the R&B chart in 1949.

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

, She left Tharpe to go solo around 1951, and put together a backing group, The Millionaires (Thomasina Stewart, Eleonore King and Roberta Jones), with whom she recorded the 1956 album ''Songs of the Gospel''. She began recording

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

R&B music in the late 1950s, for various labels including Decca, Mercury, and

Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

. Her duet with Rex Garvin, credited as ''Marie & Rex'', "I can't sit down" released on the Carlton label, reached No. 94 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

in 1959.Whitburn, ''Top Pop Singles 1955-2002'', Billboard, 2003; , p. 440 In the late 1950s she also toured Britain as a guest of Humphrey Lyttelton. In 1961 she recorded the single " Come tomorrow", which was later a hit for

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...

. Knight's version of " Cry me a river" reached No. 35 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B charts in 1965.

Charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

Allmusic; accessed December 13, 2015. She toured with

Brook Benton Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), known professionally as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter whose music transcended rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres in the 1950s and 1960s, with ...

, the Drifters, and

Clyde McPhatter Clyde Lensley McPhatter (November 15, 1932 – June 13, 1972) was an American rhythm and blues, soul, and rock and roll singer. He was one of the most widely imitated R&B singers of the 1950s and early 1960sPalmer, Robert (1981)"Roy Brown, a Pio ...

, and regularly reunited onstage with Tharpe. She remained friends with Tharpe, and helped arrange her funeral in 1973. In 1975, having given up performing secular music, she recorded another gospel album, ''Marie Knight: Today''. In 2002, Knight made a comeback in the gospel world, recording for a

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

to Tharpe. She released a full-length album, ''Let us get together'', on her manager's label in 2007.

Discography

As a solo artist

With other artists

* 1975 Blues Alliance 257004 - Today LP * 2001 Westside - Bluesoul Belles Vol. 4: Scepter & Musicor Recordings (Compilation; Judy Clay, Marie Knight) * 2002 Gospel Friend - Hallelujah What a Song (Compilation) * 2007 M. C. Records MC-0058 - Let Us Get Together LP

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Marie 1920 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century African-American women singers American gospel singers Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Musicians from Newark, New Jersey 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century African-American women singers