NEW YORK - Marie Knight, the gospel legend who came to prominence while touring with longtime musical partner Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the 1940s, died Sunday. She was 84.

She died at a Harlem nursing home from complications from pneumonia, said Mark Carpentieri, her manager and owner of M.C. Records.

Raised in Newark, N.J., she began touring the national gospel circuit with evangelist Frances Robinson while still in her 20s.

In 1946, she began touring with Tharpe and the two became the most popular gospel artists of the 1940s with a string of hits, including "Didn't It Rain," "Up Above My Head," and "Beams of Heaven." The two would tour frequently throughout the 1950s.