The Pulse of Entertainment: Entertainment Columnist Rosa Pryor-Trusty Publishes Third Book on Black History in Baltimore, Maryland

(August 1, 2025) - "I started during the pandemic," said Rosa Pryor-Trusty, an entertainment columnist at The Baltimore Times, about her third book on the history of life in Baltimore titled Maryland Black History Stories: Who, What, When & Where? 1950 - 1980 recently released through Page Publishing. "I was so bored, I couldn't go out...no shows, no concerts. I started pulling out my files...to clean up. I saw photos I had never used."

Rosa's books on black entertainment history in Baltimore have been photo books or books made mainly of photos. Her first book Black America Series African-American Entertainment in Baltimore (Arcadia) was published in 2003. Her second book African-American Community, History & Entertainment in Maryland (Xlibris Corp.) was published in 2013. Colleges have included her books in their required readings and her first book had book sales that were record breaking.

"I contacted individuals," she said about how she got her readers to submit pictures from those years that depict their life in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland. "I have 650 pages (of pictures)...they have bylines of the person (who submitted it) and the year. I did the research for the story behind the picture."

Her column is called Rambling Rose, a name given to her by the late legend Nate King Cole. Rosa was a singer, saxophonist and keyboardist with her own band, Rosa and the Twilights, and they used to open-up for Nate King Cole. Always on tour opening for such acts as The Shirrelles, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke and Nate King Cole which is why he wrote his hit single "Rambling Rose" with her in mind. She also wrote a single "Thanks Mr. DJ" (Decade Records) that was very popular. Her managers at the time were the infamous Fat Daddy and DJ Rockin' Robin.

"The song ("Thanks Mr. DJ") was on a reel...I never thought I would get a copy, but I finally got a copy on a 45 which got lost during moving," Pryor-Trusty told me when I asked. "Not in the other books, this book covers politicians, media, schools, families, artists, and local people working,"

As the years went by Rosa developed something on her throat and couldn't sing anymore so she began managing acts, such as Sir Walter Jackson, The Vandals, The Softones, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Benny Johnson, Bobby Ward, The Clovers, Sammy Taylor, The Drifters, and The Orioles. She became licensed as talent agent too, so she could also book them. It was during that time that the publisher of The Baltimore Times reached out to her to write stories from her experiences in the local clubs of Baltimore where she was often seen with her acts. Not only did Rosa Pryor-Trusty write about her experiences she sold advertisements for the newspaper in support of the page her column appeared, and it grew to be its own entertainment section in the newspaper. Her books show life during these years that are historical in nature.

"Joy (Bramble) hired me just for that - local entertainment. I've been involved in entertainment all my life. I went to write something...for black history month...went to the library, they had nothing on entertainment here and on the Avenue (Pennsylvania). I thought it was a shame."

For many years she ran her non-profit Rambling Rosa Music Scholarship Fund (1991 - 2017), that provided scholarships to many talented youths. A long-time member of the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ), Rosa also wrote entertainment news for the Afro-American newspaper (1998 - 2020), The Informer newspaper (1996 - 1997), and The Northwest Voice (1997 0 1999).