Rosetta Thompson -- grandmother of seven, owner of three hair boutiques -- still takes time to do the hair of longtime clients at her Glenarden beauty shop.
But woe to the women who miss their Monday appointments.
The rest of the week, this 55-year-old beautician exchanges her curling iron for a microphone and becomes a gospel singer, radio personality and impresario.
Over the last decade, Thompson has gone beyond her role as wife of a gospel singer to become a key player in a spiritual art form that for many years has stirred people's souls with a mix of showmanship, bluesy music and the Bible.
Earlier this month, Thompson held court backstage at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, wearing a fiery red dress and doling out payments to some of the country's most celebrated gospel musicians: the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Canton Spirituals, the Sensational Nightingales.
Horace Thompson, the Nightingales' background singer and guitar player, paced behind the huge stage, constantly looking at his watch. The concert was more than a Saturday night gig for him. It was his wife's largest concert ever.
The arena of the Prince George's County Equestrian Center quickly filled with 4,000 people dressed for church, there to have their hearts soothed and riled by quartet gospel music. "I like gospel music that pushes me, music where you can't sit still," said Temple Hills resident Fred Gwyn, who had a front-row seat. "This is where I get my fulfillment."
The Anointed Disciples, four men in black suits, were first up, easing into a medley of songs that produced a lukewarm response from the sea of $18 seats. Quartets are evaluated on their harmony and their ability to rouse the audience, and the opening acts don't get much time to make the grade.
Like the beginning of a storm, the gospel concert started with a few drops of emotion, but two hours into the program, the arena was consumed in a loud, pulsating wave of gospel that moved men to cry and women to dance in the aisle. The cavernous arena had turned into a tabernacle.
"A lot of people don't go to a church that gives them the opportunity just to air out," said the Rev. Steve Young, pastor of Holy Christian Missionary Baptist Church in the District. Young, one of the concert's hosts, said church folk need a place to have fun in the name of the Lord.
Gospel quartet music is a special art form in the black community, WCYB radio announcer Winston Chaney said. "It has a down-home country beat -- that's the quartet sound. It's a driving beat."
But for the last two decades, overshadowed by contemporary groups and large choirs, gospel quartets could have been found on a list of endangered American icons. The choirs in particular gained in popularity with recordings by artists such as the Rev. James Cleveland, who died a few years ago.
"Ten years ago, choir music had driven out quartet music, but now the quartets are coming back with a new traditional sound," WOL radio announcer Ray Edwards said.
But during that austere period for quartets, Rosetta Thompson decided to be more than just the supportive wife of a gospel singer. In 1983, she formed her own group -- and all she had to do was walk down the hallway at her house to recruit most of the talent.
"Quartet music had not been promoted, and my mother's strong commitment was to promote quartet music in a way that it had never been promoted before," said Thomp son's daughter, Pat Jones, 30, who would become the lead singer of the seven-member Thompson Family singers. The group also includes her son, who plays lead guitar, some of the beautician's grandchildren and some friends.
Horace Thompson responded to his wife's musical plans by asking, "Honey, are you sure you can do all this?" Rosetta Thompson responded, "The more {on the road} the merrier."
Thompson's passion for gospel music was forged in the choir loft of an Augusta, Ga., church where her father was pastor. She said her four brothers and three sisters also sang for their father's audiences. "My daddy pastored four churches," said Thompson, who learned how to fix hair as a child. "My mother had hair down to her waist; I was doing her hair at age 11."
In 1958, as a young woman of 18, she packed up and moved north. Like many southerners in the 1950s, she came to the District because "I thought it would be a better opportunity."
Thompson, who landed a job as a secretary, met her future husband on her way to the grocery store in her Capitol Hill neighborhood to buy ingredients for a sweet potato pie. She said her attraction deepened when she learned that he was the guitar player for the Rev. Julius Cheeks, a pioneer gospel singer.
After their marriage in 1961, Horace Thompson was drafted into the Army, but Rosetta said neither the Vietnam War nor his years singing on the road after the Army kept their family from being close. "I would plan cookouts for when he was home. We had good wholesome fun," she said.
For 30 years, Horace Thompson has averaged two weeks on the road for every week at home. "There have been a lot of airplane tickets," said Rosetta Thompson. "I understood what he was all about; I loved it."
Thompson, with a high school diploma and her hairdressing skills, saved enough money to open a salon in Prince George's County in 1976. Two years later, she opened a second Maryland store, and, five years ago, she opened Hair Essence, an 18-booth shop in Northeast Washington.
All the while, Thompson kept a burning desire to sing and be with her husband. When asked to choose between the two careers, Thompson said without hesitation, "On the road. . . . It was always in my heart to have my own group together."
In 1984, the Thompson Family singers celebrated their first anniversary with a gospel program at Mentrotone Baptist Church in Southeast Washington. About 400 people came to the event, which featured several national and local artists.
What started as an annual celebration for the family has turned into a big annual event. Today Thompson has programs throughout the year that attract thousands of spectators.
"I am just trying to put gospel music in a large enough arena so I won't have to turn people away," said Thompson, whose events have outgrown three churches and two high school auditoriums. Her home for now is the 6,000-seat Show Place Arena, but she has her sights set on the Washington Convention Center.
Rosetta Thompson may speak in soft tones, but from her long gray Lincoln Town Car to her shiny French hairstyle, there are few meek things about her. During her May 6 concert, Thompson stepped onto the stage wearing a sheer black evening gown and gold slippers.
It takes about $10,000 to rent the Show Place Arena and $5,000 to $10,000 to bring in the larger gospel groups. Her August program will include a half-dozen major quartets, including the Gospel Key Notes and the Williams Brothers.
But Thompson said her programs are not about making money. She donated $3,000 from her May 6 ticket sales to a drug treatment program, and for many years her concerts didn't break even. "I do this because I love what I am doing," she said.
Thompson said that on Judgment Day she will have a simple message for her maker: "Lord, You know all the work that I was doing in your name. . . . I'm home." CAPTION: Rosetta Thompson's grandchildren Horace and Patrice, both 8, and Sean, 11, who are all members of the Thompson Family singers. At right, Thompson in her Northeast Washington beauty shop, her third, which she opened five years ago. The two others are in Maryland. CAPTION: Earl Earby, Ida Robinson and Lucy Salley join in the music during a Rosetta Thompson gospel concert at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. At right, the Sensational Nightingales, featuring her husband, Horace Thompson, right. CAPTION: A view from backstage of the concert arena at the Prince George's County Equestrian Center in Upper Marlboro. About 4,000 people attended a recent Rosetta Thompson production of quartet gospel music.