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Little Richard

May 08, 2023

This article is about the American singer. For other uses, see Little Richard (disambiguation).

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Architect of Rock and Roll", Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding back beat and powerful raspy vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Richard's innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations.

Little Richard
Richard in 1966
Background information
Birth nameRichard Wayne Penniman
Born(1932-12-05)December 5, 1932
Macon, Georgia, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 2020(2020-05-09) (aged 87)
Tullahoma, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • musician
  • songwriter
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • piano
Years active1947–2020
Labels

"Tutti Frutti" (1955), one of Richard's signature songs, became an instant hit, crossing over to the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. His next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart, followed by a rapid succession of fifteen more in less than three years. His performances during this period resulted in integration between white Americans and black Americans in his audience. In 1962, after a five-year period during which Richard abandoned rock and roll music for born-again Christianity, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded him to tour Europe. During this time, the Beatles opened for Richard on some tour dates.

Richard is cited as one of the first crossover black artists, reaching audiences of all races. His music and concerts broke the color line, drawing black and white people together despite attempts to sustain segregation. Many of his contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, recorded covers of his works.

Richard was honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 2015, Richard received a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music for his key role in the formation of popular music genres and helping to bring an end to the racial divide on the music charts and in concert in the mid-1950s changing American culture significantly. "Tutti Frutti" was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010, which stated that his "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music".

Early life

Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, on December 5, 1932,[1] the third of twelve children of Leva Mae (née Stewart) and Charles "Bud" Penniman. His father was a church deacon and a brick mason,[2] who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn.[3][4] His mother was a member of Macon's New Hope Baptist Church.[5] Initially, his first name was supposed to have been "Ricardo", but an error resulted in "Richard" instead.[3][6] The Penniman children were raised in a neighborhood of Macon called Pleasant Hill.[5] In childhood, he was nicknamed "Lil' Richard" by his family because of his small and skinny frame. A mischievous child who played pranks on neighbors, he began singing in church and taking piano lessons at a young age.[7][8] Possibly as a result of complications at birth, he had a slight deformity that left one of his legs shorter than the other. This produced an unusual gait, and he was mocked for his allegedly effeminate appearance.[9]

His family was very religious and joined various A.M.E., Baptist, and Pentecostal churches, with some family members becoming ministers. He enjoyed the Pentecostal churches the most, because of their charismatic worship and live music.[10] He later recalled that people in his neighborhood sang gospel songs throughout the day during segregation to keep a positive outlook, because "there was so much poverty, so much prejudice in those days".[11] He had observed that people sang "to feel their connection with God" and to wash their trials and burdens away.[12] Gifted with a loud singing voice, he recalled that he was "always changing the key upwards" and that he was once stopped from singing in church for "screaming and hollering" so loud, earning him the nickname "War Hawk".[13] As a child, he would "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans and pots and pans, or whatever" while singing, which annoyed neighbors.[14]

His initial musical influences were gospel performers such as Brother Joe May, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, and Marion Williams. May, a singing evangelist who was known as "the Thunderbolt of the Middle West" because of his phenomenal range and vocal power, inspired Richard to become a preacher.[15][16] He credited the Clara Ward Singers for one of his distinctive hollers.[17] Richard attended Macon's Hudson High School,[18] where he was a below-average student. He eventually learned to play alto saxophone, joining his school's marching band while in fifth grade.[14] While in high school, he got a part-time job at Macon City Auditorium for local secular and gospel concert promoter Clint Brantley. He sold Coca-Cola to crowds during concerts of star performers of the day such as Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, and his favorite singer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.[19]

Music career

1947–1955: Beginnings

In October 1947, Sister Rosetta Tharpe overheard the fourteen-year-old Richard singing her songs before a performance at the Macon City Auditorium. She invited him to open her show.[20] After the show, Tharpe paid him, inspiring him to become a professional performer.[19][21] Richard stated that his piano style was greatly influenced by Ike Turner's piano intro on "Rocket 88".[22] In 1949, he began performing in Doctor Nubillo's traveling show. Richard was inspired to wear turbans and capes in his career by Nubillo, who also "carried a black stick and exhibited something he called 'the devil's child'—the dried-up body of a baby with claw feet like a bird and horns on its head." Nubillo told Richard he was "gonna be famous" but that he would have to "go where the grass is greener".[23]

Before entering the tenth grade, Richard left his family home and joined Hudson's Medicine Show in 1949, performing Louis Jordan's "Caldonia".[23] Richard recalled that the song was the first secular R&B song he learned, since his family had strict rules against playing R&B music, which they considered "devil music".[24] Other sources also indicate that Little Richard was influenced by Jordan. In fact, according to one reliable source, the whoop sound on Jordan's record "Caldonia" "sounds eerily like the vocal tone Little Richard would adopt" in addition to the "Jordan-style pencil-thin mustache".[25][26]

Richard also performed in drag during this time, performing under the name "Princess LaVonne".[27] In 1950, Richard joined his first musical band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name Little Richard.[28] Performing in the minstrel show circuit, Richard, in and out of drag, appeared for vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam, the Tidy Jolly Steppers, the King Brothers Circus, and the Broadway Follies.[29] Having settled in Atlanta at this point, Richard began listening to rhythm and blues and frequented Atlanta clubs, including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock where he saw performers such as Roy Brown and Billy Wright onstage. Richard was further influenced by Brown's and Wright's flashy style of showmanship and was even more influenced by Wright's flamboyant persona and showmanship. Inspired by Brown and Wright, he decided to become a rhythm-and-blues singer and after befriending Wright, began to learn how to be an entertainer from him, and began adapting a pompadour hairdo similar to Wright's, as well as styling a pencil mustache, using Wright's brand of facial pancake makeup and wearing flashier clothes.[30]

Impressed by his singing voice, Wright put him in contact with Zenas Sears, a local DJ. Sears recorded Richard at his station, backed by Wright's band. The recordings led to a contract that year with RCA Victor.[31] Richard recorded a total of eight sides for RCA Victor, including the blues ballad, "Every Hour", which became his first single and a hit in Georgia.[31] The release of "Every Hour" improved his relationship with his father, who began regularly playing the song on his nightclub jukebox.[31] Shortly after the release of "Every Hour", Richard was hired to front Perry Welch and His Orchestra and played at clubs and army bases for $100 a week.[32] Richard left RCA Victor in February 1952 after his records for the label failed to chart; the recordings were marketed with little promotion from RCA Victor, although ads for the records showed up in Billboard Magazine.

After his father´s death in 1952, Richard began to find success through RCA Victor's reissue of the recordings on the budget RCA Camden label. He continued to perform during this time and Clint Brantley agreed to manage Richard's career. Moving to Houston, he formed a band called the Tempo Toppers, performing as part of blues package tours in Southern clubs such as Club Tijuana in New Orleans and Club Matinee in Houston. Richard signed with Don Robey's Peacock Records in February 1953, recording eight sides, including four with Johnny Otis and his band that were unreleased at the time.[33] Like his venture with RCA Victor, none of his Peacock singles charted despite his growing reputation for his high energy antics onstage.[34] Richard began complaining of monetary issues with Robey, resulting in Richard getting knocked out by Robey during a scuffle.

Disillusioned by the record business, Richard returned to Macon in 1954. Struggling with poverty, he settled for work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines. While in Macon, he met Esquerita, whose flamboyant onstage persona and dynamic piano playing would deeply influence Richard's approach to performance.[35][36] That year, he disbanded the Tempo Toppers and formed a harder-driving rhythm and blues band, the Upsetters, which included drummer Charles Connor and saxophonist Wilbert "Lee Diamond" Smith and toured under Brantley's management. In 1954, Richard signed on to a Southern tour with Little Johnny Taylor.[37][38][39] The band supported R&B singer Christine Kittrell on some recordings, then began to tour successfully, even without a bass guitarist, forcing drummer Connor to thump "real hard" on his bass drum in order to get a "bass fiddle effect".[37] Around this time, Richard signed a contract to tour with fellow R&B singer Little Johnny Taylor.

 
A poster for a Little Richard show, c. 1956

At the suggestion of Lloyd Price, Richard sent a demo to Price's label, Specialty Records, in February 1955. Months passed before Richard got a call from the label.[40] Finally, in September of that year, Specialty owner Art Rupe loaned Richard money to buy out of his Peacock contract and set him to work with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell.[41] Upon hearing the demo, Blackwell felt Richard was Specialty's answer to Ray Charles, however, Richard told him he preferred the sound of Fats Domino. Blackwell sent him to New Orleans where he recorded at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios, recording there with several of Domino's session musicians, including drummer Earl Palmer and saxophonist Lee Allen.[42] Richard's recordings that day failed to produce much inspiration or interest (although Blackwell saw some promise).[43][44]

Frustrated, Blackwell and Richard went to relax at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub. According to Blackwell, Richard then launched into a risqué dirty blues he titled "Tutti Frutti". Blackwell said he felt the song had hit potential and hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to replace some of Richard's sexual lyrics with less controversial ones. He also changed the microphone placement and pushed Richard's voice forward.[43][44] Recorded in three takes in September 1955, "Tutti Frutti" was released as a single that November[45] and became an instant hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It reached No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in America and No. 29 on the British singles chart, eventually selling a million copies.[34][46]

1956–1962: Initial success and conversion

A lot of songs I sang to crowds first to watch their reaction. That's how I knew they'd hit.

—Little Richard[47]

Richard's next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), hit number one on the R&B chart and number thirteen on the Top 100 while reaching the top ten in Britain. Like "Tutti Frutti", it sold over a million copies. Following his success, Richard built up his backup band, The Upsetters, with the addition of saxophonists Clifford "Gene" Burks and leader Grady Gaines, bassist Olsie "Baysee" Robinson and guitarist Nathaniel "Buster" Douglas.[48] Richard began performing on package tours across the United States. Art Rupe described the differences between Richard and a similar hitmaker of the early rock and roll period by stating that, while "the similarities between Little Richard and Fats Domino for recording purposes were close", Richard would sometimes stand up at the piano while he was recording and that onstage, where Domino was "plodding, very slow", Richard was "very dynamic, completely uninhibited, unpredictable, wild. So the band took on the ambience of the vocalist."[49]

Richard's performances, like most early rock and roll shows, resulted in integrated audience reaction during an era where public places were divided into "white" and "colored" domains. In these package tours, Richard and other artists such as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry would enable audiences of both races to enter the building, albeit still segregated (e.g. blacks on the balcony and whites on the main floor). As his later Producer H.B. Barnum, explained, Richard's performances enabled audiences to come together to dance.[50] Despite broadcasts on television from local supremacist groups such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council warning that rock and roll "brings the races together", Richard's popularity was helping to shatter the myth that black performers could not successfully perform at "white-only venues", especially in the South where racism was most overt.[51] Richard's high-energy antics included lifting his leg while playing the piano, climbing on top of his piano, running on and off the stage and throwing his souvenirs to the audience.[52] He also began using capes and suits studded with multi-colored stones and sequins. Richard said he began to be more flamboyant onstage so no one would think he was "after the white girls".[53]

Richard claims that a show at Baltimore's Royal Theatre in June 1956 led to women throwing their undergarments onstage at him, resulting in other female fans repeating the action, saying it was "the first time" that had happened to any artist.[54] Richard's show would stop several times that night due to fans being restrained from jumping off the balcony and then rushing to the stage to touch him.[54] Overall, Richard would produce seven singles in the United States alone in 1956, with five of them also charting in the UK, including "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Rip It Up", "Ready Teddy", "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Lucille". Immediately after releasing "Tutti Frutti", which was then protocol for the industry, "safer" white recording artists such as Pat Boone covered the song, sending the song to the top twenty of the charts, several positions higher than Richard's. His fellow rock and roll peers Elvis Presley and Bill Haley also recorded his songs later that same year. Befriending Alan Freed,[55] the disc jockey eventually put him in his "rock and roll" movies such as Don't Knock the Rock[56] and Mister Rock and Roll. Richard was given a larger singing role in the film, The Girl Can't Help It.[57] That year, he scored more hit success with songs such as "Jenny, Jenny" and "Keep A-Knockin'" the latter becoming his first top ten single on the Billboard Top 100. By the time he left Specialty in 1959, Richard had scored a total of nine top 40 pop singles and seventeen top 40 R&B singles.[58][59]

Richard performed at the famed twelfth Cavalcade of Jazz held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 2, 1956. Also performing that day were Dinah Washington, The Mel Williams Dots, Julie Stevens, Chuck Higgins' Orchestra, Bo Rhambo, Willie Hayden & Five Black Birds, The Premiers, Gerald Wilson and His 20-Pc. Recording Orchestra and Jerry Gray and his Orchestra.[60][61]

 
"Good Golly, Miss Molly", 45 rpm recording on Specialty Records

Shortly after the release of "Tutti Frutti", Richard relocated to Los Angeles. After achieving success as a recording artist and live performer, Richard moved into a wealthy, formerly predominantly white neighborhood, living close to black celebrities such as boxer Joe Louis.[62] Richard's first album, Here's Little Richard, was released by Specialty in March 1957 and peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Similar to most albums released during that era, the album featured six released singles and "filler" tracks.[63] In early 1958, Specialty released his second album, Little Richard, which didn't chart. In October 1957, Richard embarked on a package tour in Australia with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. During the middle of the tour, he shocked the public by announcing he was following a life in the ministry.[64]

Richard claimed in his autobiography that during a flight from Melbourne to Sydney that his plane was experiencing some difficulty and he claimed to have seen the plane's red hot engines and felt angels were "holding it up".[65] At the end of his Sydney performance, Richard saw a bright red fireball flying across the sky above him and claimed he was "deeply shaken".[65] Though it was eventually told to him that it was the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1, Richard took it as a "sign from God" to repent from performing secular music and his wild lifestyle at the time.[64]

Returning to the States ten days earlier than expected, Richard later read news of his original flight having crashed into the Pacific Ocean as a further sign to "do as God wanted".[66] After a "farewell performance" at the Apollo Theater and a "final" recording session with Specialty later that month, Richard enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology.[67][68] Despite his claims of spiritual rebirth, Richard admitted his reasons for leaving were more monetary. During his tenure at Specialty, despite earning millions for the label, Richard complained that he did not know the label had cut the percentage of royalties he was to earn for his recordings.[69] Specialty continued to release Richard recordings, including "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and his unique version of "Kansas City", until 1960. Ending his contract with the label, Richard agreed to relinquish any royalties for his material.[70]

In 1958, Richard formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team, traveling across the country to preach.[71] A month after his decision to leave secular music, Richard met Ernestine Harvin, a secretary from Washington, D.C., and the couple married on July 11, 1959.[72] Richard ventured into gospel music, first recording for End Records, before signing with Mercury Records in 1961, where he eventually released King of the Gospel Singers, in 1962, produced by Quincy Jones, who later remarked that Richard's vocals impressed him more than any other vocalist he had worked with.[73] His childhood heroine, Mahalia Jackson, wrote in the liner notes of the album that Richard "sang gospel the way it should be sung".[74] While Richard was no longer charting in the U.S., with pop music, some of his gospel songs such as "He's Not Just a Soldier" and "He Got What He Wanted", and "Crying in the Chapel", reached the pop charts in the U.S. and the UK.[75]

1962–1979: Return to secular music

I heard so much about the audience reaction, I thought there must be some exaggeration. But it was all true. He drove the whole house into a complete frenzy ... I couldn't believe the power of Little Richard onstage. He was amazing.

—Mick Jagger[76]

In 1962, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded Little Richard to tour Europe after telling him his records were still selling well there. With soul singer Sam Cooke as an opening act, Richard, who featured a teenage Billy Preston in his gospel band, figured it was a gospel tour and, after Cooke's delayed arrival forced him to cancel his show on the opening date, performed only gospel material during the show, leading to boos from the audience expecting Richard to sing his rock and roll hits. The following night, Richard viewed Cooke's well-received performance. Bringing back his competitive drive, Richard and Preston warmed up in darkness before launching into "Long Tall Sally", resulting in frenetic, hysterical responses from the audience. A show at Mansfield's Granada Theatre ended early after fans rushed the stage.[77]

Hearing of Richard's shows, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, asked Don Arden to allow his band to open for Richard on some tour dates, to which he agreed. The first show for which the Beatles opened was at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom that October.[78] The following month they, along with Swedish singer Jerry Williams and his band The Violents,[79] opened for Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg.[80] During this time, Richard advised the group on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations.[80] Back in the United States, Richard recorded six rock and roll songs with his 1950's band, the Upsetters for Little Star Records, under the name "World Famous Upsetters", hoping this would keep his options open in maintaining his position as a minister.

In the fall of 1963, Richard was called by a concert promoter to rescue a sagging tour featuring The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones. Richard agreed and helped to save the tour from flopping. At the end of that tour, Richard was given his own television special for Granada Television titled The Little Richard Spectacular. The special became a ratings hit and after 60,000 fan letters, was rebroadcast twice.[81] In 1964, now openly re-embracing rock and roll, Richard released "Bama Lama Bama Loo" on Specialty Records. Due to his UK exposure, the song reached the top twenty there but only climbed to number 82 in the U.S.[82] Later in the year, he signed with Vee-Jay Records, then on its dying legs, to release his "comeback" album, Little Richard Is Back. Due to the arrival of the Beatles and other British bands as well as the rise of soul labels such as Motown and Stax Records and the popularity of James Brown, Richard's new releases were not well promoted or well received by radio stations. In November/December 1964, Jimi Hendrix joined Richard's Upsetters band as a full member.[83][84]

In December 1964, Richard brought Hendrix and childhood friend and piano teacher Eskew Reeder to a New York studio to re-record an album's worth of his greatest hits. He went on tour with his new group of Upsetters, to promote the album. In early 1965, Richard took Hendrix and Billy Preston to a New York studio where they recorded the Don Covay soul ballad, "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)", which became a number 12 R&B hit.[85] Three other songs were recorded during the sessions, "Dance a Go Go" aka "Dancin' All Around the World", "You Better Stop", and "Come See About Me" (possibly an instrumental), but "You Better Stop" was not issued until 1971 and "Come See About Me" has yet to see official release.[86] Around this time, Richard and Jimi appeared in a show starring Soupy Sales at the Brooklyn Paramount, New York. Richard's flamboyance and drive for dominance reportedly got him thrown off the show.

 
Little Richard in 1966

Hendrix and Richard clashed over the spotlight, as well as Hendrix's tardiness, wardrobe and stage antics. Hendrix also complained over not being properly paid by Richard. In early July 1965, Richard's brother Robert Penniman "fired" Jimi (however, Jimi wrote to his father, Al Hendrix, that he quit Richard as "you can't live on promises when you're on the road, so I had to cut that mess aloose". Hendrix had not been paid "for five-and-a-half weeks" and was owed 1,000 dollars. Hendrix then rejoined the Isley Brothers' band, the IB Specials.[87] Richard later signed with Modern Records, releasing a modest charter, "Do You Feel It?" before leaving for Okeh Records in early 1966. His former Specialty labelmate Larry Williams produced two albums for Richard on Okeh - the studio release The Explosive Little Richard, which utilised a Motown-influenced sound and produced the modest charters "Poor Dog" and "Commandments of Love" and Little Richard's Greatest Hits: Recorded Live! which returned him to the album charts.[88][89][90] Richard was later scathing about this period, declaring Larry Williams "the worst producer in the world".[91] In 1967, Richard signed with Brunswick Records but after clashing with the label over musical direction, he left the label the following year.

 
Little Richard in 1967

Richard felt that producers on his labels worked in not promoting his records during this period. Later, he claimed they kept trying to push him to records similar to Motown and felt he wasn't treated with appropriate respect.[92] Richard often performed in dingy clubs and lounges with little support from his label. While Richard managed to perform in huge venues overseas such as in England and France, in the U.S. Richard had to perform on the Chitlin' Circuit. Richard's flamboyant look, while a hit during the 1950s, failed to help his labels to promote him to more conservative black record buyers.[93] Richard later claimed that his decision to "backslide" from his ministry, led religious clergymen to protest his new recordings.[94] Making matters worse, Richard said, was his insistence on performing in front of integrated audiences at the time of the black liberation movement shortly after the Watts riots and the formation of the Black Panthers which caused many black radio disk jockeys in certain areas of the country, including Los Angeles, to choose not to play his music.[95] Now acting as his manager, Larry Williams convinced Richard to focus on his live shows. By 1968, he had ditched the Upsetters for his new backup band, the Crown Jewels, performing on the Canadian TV show, "Where It's At". Richard was also featured on the Monkees TV special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee in April 1969. Williams booked Richard shows in Las Vegas casinos and resorts, leading Richard to adopt a wilder, flamboyant, and androgynous look, inspired by the success of his former backing guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Richard was soon booked at rock festivals such as the Atlantic City Pop Festival where he stole the show from headliner Janis Joplin. Richard produced a similar show stealer at the Toronto Pop Festival with John Lennon as the headliner. These successes brought Little Richard to talk shows such as the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the Dick Cavett Show, making him a major celebrity again.[96]

Responding to his reputation as a successful concert performer, Reprise Records signed Richard in 1970 and he released the album, The Rill Thing, with the philosophical single, "Freedom Blues", becoming his biggest charted single in years. In May 1970, Richard made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Despite the success of "Freedom Blues", none of Richard's other Reprise singles charted with the exception of "Greenwood, Mississippi", a swamp rock original by guitar hero, Travis Wammack, who incidentally played on the track. It charted only briefly on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box pop chart, also on the Billboard Country charts; made a strong showing on WWRL in New York, before disappearing. Richard became a featured guest instrumentalist and vocalist on recordings by acts such as Delaney and Bonnie, Joey Covington and Joe Walsh and was prominently featured on Canned Heat's 1972 hit single, "Rockin' with the King". To keep up with his finances and bookings, Richard and three of his brothers formed a management company, Bud Hole Incorporated. On American TV, Richard announced that he would be in a Rock Hudson motion picture, playing "The Insane Minister". (The appearance has never seen the light of day.) He also mentioned a new project involving Mick Jagger and Joe Cocker, celebrating his 20 years in show business, though it was never realized.[97] By 1972, Richard had entered the rock and roll revival circuit, and that year, he co-headlined the London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium with his musical peer Chuck Berry where he'd come on stage and announce himself "the king of rock and roll", fittingly also the title of his 1971 album with Reprise and told the packed audience there to "let it all hang out"; Richard, however, was booed during the show when he climbed on top of his piano and stopped singing; he also seemed to ignore much of the crowd. To make matters worse, he showed up with just five musicians and struggled through low lighting and bad microphones. When the concert film documenting the show came out, his performance was considered generally strong, though his fans noticed a drop in energy and vocal artistry. Two songs he performed did not make the final cut of the film. The following year, he recorded a charting soul ballad, "In the Middle of the Night", released with proceeds donated to victims of tornadoes that had caused damage in twelve states.[98]

Richard did no new recordings in 1974, although two "new" albums were released. In the summer, came a major surprise for fans, "Talkin' 'bout Soul", a collection of released and unreleased Vee Jay recordings, all never before on a domestic LP. Two were new to the world: the title tune and "You'd Better Stop", both uptempo.

Later that year came a set recorded in one night, early the previous year, called "Right Now!", and featuring "roots" material, including a vocal version of an unreleased Reprise instrumental "Mississippi", released in 1972 as "Funky Dish Rag"; his third try at his gospel -rock "In the Name"; and a 6 minute plus rocker, "Hot Nuts", based upon a 1936 song by Li'l Johnson ("Get 'Em From The Peanut Man").

1975 was a big year for Richard, with a world tour, and acclaim over high energy performances throughout England and France. His band was perhaps his best, to date. He cut a top 40 single (US and Canada), with Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "Take It Like a Man". He worked on new songs with sideman, Seabrun "Candy" Hunter. He told Dee-Jay, Wolfman Jack, that he planned on releasing a new album with Sly Stone, but it never materialized. In 1976, he decided to retire again, physically and mentally exhausted, having experienced family tragedy and the drug culture. He was talked into once again recutting his greatest hits, for Stan Shulman in Nashville. This time, they would not use new arrangements but original arrangements. Richard re-recorded eighteen of his classic rock and roll hits, for K-Tel Records, in high tech stereo recreations, with a single featuring the new versions of "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Rip It Up" reaching the UK singles chart.[99] Richard later admitted that he was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. By 1977, worn out from years of drug abuse and wild partying as well as a string of personal tragedies, Richard quit rock and roll again and returned to evangelism, releasing one gospel album, God's Beautiful City, in 1979.[100] At the same time, while touring once again as a minister and returning to talk shows, a controversial album was released by the discount label, Koala, taken from a 1974 concert. It includes an 11 minute discordant version of "Good Golly, Miss Molly". The performances are widely panned as subpar and it has gained some notoriety amongst record collectors.

1984–1999: Comeback

 
Little Richard holding a photograph of himself at a Best Buddies International event, 1998

In 1984, Richard filed a $112 million lawsuit against Specialty Records, Art Rupe and his publishing company, Venice Music, and ATV Music for not paying royalties to him after he left the label in 1959.[101] The suit was settled out of court in 1986.[102] According to some reports, Michael Jackson allegedly gave him monetary compensation for his work, which he co-owned with Sony-ATV, songs by the Beatles and Richard.[103] In September 1984, Charles White released the singer's authorized biography, Quasar of Rock: The Life and Times of Little Richard, which returned Richard to the spotlight.[104] Richard returned to show business in what Rolling Stone would refer to as a "formidable comeback" following the book's release.[104]

Reconciling his roles as evangelist and rock and roll musician for the first time, Richard stated that the genre could be used for good or evil.[105] After accepting a role in the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Richard and Billy Preston penned the faith-based rock and roll song "Great Gosh A'Mighty" for its soundtrack.[105] Richard won critical acclaim for his film role and the song found success on the American and British charts.[105] The hit led to the release of the album Lifetime Friend (1986) on Warner Bros. Records, with songs deemed "messages in rhythm", including a gospel rap track.[106] In addition to a version of "Great Gosh A'Mighty", cut in England, the album featured two singles that charted in the UK, "Somebody's Comin'" and "Operator". Richard spent much of the rest of the decade as a guest on television shows and appearing in films, winning new fans with what was referred to as his "unique comedic timing."[107]

In 1988, he surprised fans with a serious tribute to Otis Redding at his Rock and Roll of Fame induction ceremony, singing several Redding songs, including "Fa Fa Fa (sad song)", "These arms of mine", and "Dock of the Bay ". He told Otis' story and explained how his 1956 tune "All Around the World" was Redding's reference on his 1963 side, "Hey, Hey Baby". In 1989, Richard provided rhythmic preaching and background vocals on the extended live version of the U2–B.B. King hit "When Love Comes to Town". That same year, Richard returned to singing his classic hits following a performance of "Lucille" at an AIDS benefit concert.[108]

 
President Bill Clinton greets Little Richard at the White House in 1994

In 1990, Richard contributed a spoken-word rap on Living Colour's hit song, "Elvis Is Dead", from their album Time's Up.[109][110] That same year he appeared in a cameo for the music video of Cinderella's "Shelter Me". In 1991, he was one of the featured performers on the hit single and video "Voices That Care" that was produced to help boost the morale of U.S. troops involved in Operation Desert Storm. The same year, he recorded a version of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation benefit album For Our Children. The album's success led to a deal with Walt Disney Records, resulting in the release of a hit 1992 children's album, Shake It All About.

In 1994, Richard sang the theme song to the award-winning PBS Kids and TLC animated television series The Magic School Bus based on the book series created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen and published by Scholastic Corporation. He also opened Wrestlemania X from Madison Square Garden on March 20 that year miming to his reworked rendition of "America the Beautiful".

Throughout the 1990s, Richard performed around the world and appeared on TV, film, and tracks with other artists, including Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John and Solomon Burke. In 1992 he released his final album, Little Richard Meets Masayoshi Takanaka featuring members of Richard's then current touring band.[111]

2000–2020: Later years

 
Little Richard in 2007

In 2000, Richard's life was dramatized for the biographical film Little Richard, which focused on his early years, including his heyday, his religious conversion and his return to secular music in the early 1960s. Richard was played by Leon Robinson, who earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his performance. In 2002, Richard contributed to the Johnny Cash tribute album, Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash. In 2004–2005, he released two sets of unreleased and rare cuts, from the Okeh label 1966/67 and the Reprise label 1970/72. Included was the full Southern Child album, produced and composed mostly by Richard, scheduled for release in 1972, but shelved. In 2006, Little Richard was featured in a popular advertisement for the GEICO brand.[112]

A 2005 recording of his duet vocals with Jerry Lee Lewis on a cover of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" was included on Lewis's 2006 album, Last Man Standing. The same year, Richard was a guest judge on the TV series Celebrity Duets. Richard and Lewis performed alongside John Fogerty at the 2008 Grammy Awards in a tribute to the two artists considered to be cornerstones of rock and roll by the NARAS. That same year, Richard appeared on radio host Don Imus' benefit album for sick children, The Imus Ranch Record.[113] In June 2010, Richard recorded a gospel track for an upcoming tribute album to songwriting legend Dottie Rambo. In 2009, Richard was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame in a concert in New Orleans, attended by Fats Domino.

Throughout the first decade of the new millennium, Richard kept up a stringent touring schedule, performing primarily in the United States and Europe. However, sciatic nerve pain in his left leg and then replacement of the involved hip began affecting the frequency of his performances by 2010. Despite his health problems, Richard continued to perform to receptive audiences and critics. Rolling Stone reported that at a performance at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., in June 2012, Richard was "still full of fire, still a master showman, his voice still loaded with deep gospel and raunchy power."[114] Richard performed a full 90-minute show at the Pensacola Interstate Fair in Pensacola, Florida, in October 2012, at the age of 79, and headlined at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas during Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend in March 2013.[115][116] In September 2013, Rolling Stone published an interview with Richard who said that he would be retiring from performing. "I am done, in a sense, because I don't feel like doing anything right now", he told the magazine, adding, "I think my legacy should be that when I started in showbusiness there wasn't no such thing as rock'n'roll. When I started with 'Tutti Frutti', that's when rock really started rocking."[117] Richard would perform one last concert in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 2014.[118]

In June 2015, Richard appeared before a benefit concert audience, clad in sparkly boots and a brightly colored jacket at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville to receive the Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from and raise funds for the National Museum of African American Music. It was reported that he charmed the crowd by reminiscing about his early days working in Nashville nightclubs.[119][120] In May 2016, the National Museum of African American Music issued a press release indicating that Richard was one of the key artists and music industry leaders that attended its third annual Celebration of Legends Luncheon in Nashville honoring Shirley Caesar, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff with Rhapsody & Rhythm Awards.[121] In 2016, a new CD was released on Hitman Records, California (I'm Comin') with released and previously unreleased material from the 1970s, including an a cappella version of his 1975 single release, "Try to Help Your Brother". On September 6, 2017, Richard participated in a long television interview for the Christian Three Angels Broadcasting Network, appearing in a wheelchair, clean-shaven, without make-up, dressed in a blue paisley coat and tie, where he discussed his lifelong Christian faith.[122]

On October 23, 2019, Richard addressed the audience after appearing to receive the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor's Arts Awards at the Governor's Residence in Nashville, Tennessee.[123][124]

Personal life

Relationships and family

Around 1956, Richard became involved with Audrey Robinson, a sixteen-year-old college student, originally from Savannah, Georgia.[108][125] Richard and Robinson quickly got acquainted despite Robinson not being a fan of rock and roll music. Richard said in his 1984 autobiography that he invited other men to have sexual encounters with her, including Buddy Holly. Robinson denied those statements.[108][126] Richard proposed marriage to Robinson but she refused. Robinson later became known under the name Lee Angel as a stripper and socialite.[127] Richard reconnected with Robinson in the 1960s, though she left him again after his drug abuse worsened.[108] Robinson was interviewed for Richard's 1985 documentary on The South Bank Show and denied Richard's statements. According to Robinson, Richard would use her to buy food in white-only fast food stores as he could not enter any due to the color of his skin.

Richard met his only wife, Ernestine Harvin, at an evangelical rally in October 1957. They began dating that year and wed on July 12, 1959, in California. According to Harvin, she and Richard initially enjoyed a happy marriage with "normal" sexual relations. When the marriage ended in divorce in 1964, Harvin said it was due to her husband's celebrity status, which had made life difficult for her. Richard said the marriage fell apart due to his being a neglectful husband and because of his sexuality.[128] Both Robinson and Harvin denied Richard's statements that he was gay, and Richard believed they did not know it because he was "such a pumper in those days".[128] During the marriage, Richard and Harvin adopted a one-year-old boy, Danny Jones, from a late church associate.[108] Richard and his son remained close, with Jones often acting as one of his bodyguards.[129] Harvin later married Mcdonald Campbell in Santa Barbara, California, on March 23, 1975.[citation needed]

Sexuality

In 1984, Richard said that he just played with girls as a child and was subjected to homosexual jokes and ridicule because of his manner of walking and talking.[130] His father brutally punished him whenever he caught him wearing his mother's makeup and clothing.[131] The singer said he had been sexually involved with both sexes as a teenager.[132] Because of his effeminate mannerisms, his father kicked him out of their family home when he was fifteen.[4] In 1985, on The South Bank Show, Richard explained, "my daddy put me out of the house. He said he wanted seven boys, and I had spoiled it, because I was gay."[108]

Richard got involved in voyeurism in his early twenties. A female friend would drive him around picking up men who would allow him to watch them having sex in the backseat of cars. Richard's activity caught the attention of Macon police in 1955 and he was arrested after a gas station attendant reported sexual activity in a car Richard was occupying with a heterosexual couple. Cited on a sexual misconduct charge, he spent three days in jail and was temporarily banned from performing in Macon.[133]

In the early 1950s, Richard became acquainted with openly gay musician Billy Wright, who helped in establishing Richard's look, advising him to use pancake makeup on his face and wear his hair in a long-haired pompadour style similar to his.[30] As Richard got used to the makeup, he ordered his band, the Upsetters, to wear makeup too, in order to gain entry into predominantly white venues. He later stated, "I wore the make-up so that white men wouldn't think I was after the white girls. It made things easier for me, plus it was colorful too."[134] In 2000, Richard told Jet magazine, "I figure if being called a sissy would make me famous, let them say what they want to."[131] Richard's look, however, still attracted female audiences, who would send him naked photos and their phone numbers.[135][136] Groupies began throwing undergarments at Richard during performances.[137][138]

During Richard's heyday, his obsession with voyeurism and group sex continued, his girlfriend Audrey Robinson participating. Richard wrote that Robinson would have sex with men while she sexually stimulated Richard.[139] Despite saying he was "born again" after leaving rock and roll for the church in 1957, Richard left Oakwood College after exposing himself to a male student. The incident was reported to the student's father, and Richard withdrew from the college.[140] In 1962, Richard was arrested for spying on men urinating in toilets at a Trailways bus station in Long Beach, California.[141] He participated in orgies and continued to be a voyeur.

On May 4, 1982, on Late Night with David Letterman, Richard said, "God gave me the victory. I'm not gay now, but, you know, I was gay all my life. I believe I was one of the first gay people to come out. But God let me know that he made Adam be with Eve, not Steve. So, I gave my heart to Christ."[142] In his 1984 book, while demeaning homosexuality as "unnatural" and "contagious", he told Charles White he was "omnisexual".[108]

In 1995, Richard told Penthouse that he always knew he was gay, saying "I've been gay all my life".[108] In 2007, Mojo Magazine referred to Richard as "bisexual".[143]

In October 2017, Richard once again denounced homosexuality in an interview with the Christian Three Angels Broadcasting Network, calling homosexual and transgender identity "unnatural affection" that goes against "the way God wants you to live".[144]

Drug use

During his initial heyday in the 1950s rock and roll scene, Richard was a teetotaler abstaining from alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Richard often fined bandmates for drug and alcohol use during this era. By the mid-1960s, however, Richard began drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and smoking cigarettes and marijuana.[145] By 1972, he had developed an addiction to cocaine. He later lamented that period, "They should have called me Lil Cocaine, I was sniffing so much of that stuff!"[146] By 1975, he had developed addictions to both heroin and PCP, otherwise known as "angel dust". His drug and alcohol use began to affect his professional career and personal life. "I lost my reasoning", he later recalled.[147]

Of his cocaine addiction, he said that he did whatever he could to use cocaine.[148] Richard admitted that his addictions to cocaine, PCP and heroin were costing him as much as $1,000 a day.[149] In 1977, longtime friend Larry Williams once showed up with a gun and threatened to kill him for failing to pay his drug debt. Richard said that this was the most fearful moment of his life; Williams' own drug addiction made him wildly unpredictable. Richard did acknowledge that he and Williams were "very close friends" and when reminiscing of the drug-fueled clash, he recalled thinking "I knew he loved me—I hoped he did!"[150] Within that same year, Richard had several devastating personal experiences, including his brother Tony's death of a heart attack, the accidental shooting of his nephew whom he loved like a son, and the murder of two close personal friends – one a valet at "the heroin man's house."[149] These experiences convinced the singer to give up drugs and alcohol, along with rock and roll, and return to the ministry.[151]

Religion

Richard's family had deep evangelical (Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)) Christian roots, including two uncles and a grandfather who were preachers.[13] He also took part in Macon's Pentecostal churches, which were his favorites mainly due to their music, charismatic praise, dancing in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.[10] At age ten, influenced by Pentecostalism, he would go around saying he was a faith healer, singing gospel music to people who were feeling sick and touching them. He later recalled that they would often indicate that they felt better after he prayed for them and would sometimes give him money.[10] Richard had aspirations of being a preacher due to the influence of singing evangelist Brother Joe May.[13]

After he was born again in 1957, Richard enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, a mostly black Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) college, to study theology. It was also at this time that he became a vegetarian which coincided with his return to religion.[152][153][154] Richard returned to secular music in the early 1960s. He was eventually ordained a minister in 1970 and resumed evangelical activities in 1977. Richard represented Memorial Bibles International and sold their Black Heritage Bible, which highlighted the Book's many black characters. As a preacher, he evangelized in small churches and packed auditoriums of 20,000 or more. His preaching focused on uniting the races and bringing lost souls to repentance through God's love.[155] In 1984, Richard's mother, Leva Mae, died following a period of illness. Only a few months prior to her death, Richard promised her that he would remain a Christian.[105]

During the 1980s and 1990s, Richard officiated at celebrity weddings. In 2006, in one ceremony, Richard wedded twenty couples who won a contest.[156] The musician used his experience and knowledge as a minister and elder statesman of rock and roll to preach at funerals of musical friends such as Wilson Pickett and Ike Turner.[157] At a benefit concert in 2009 to raise funds to help rebuild children's playgrounds that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, Richard asked guest of honor Fats Domino to pray with him and others. His assistants handed out inspirational booklets at the concert, a common practice at Richard's shows.[158] Richard told a Howard Theatre, Washington, D.C., audience in June 2012, "I know this is not Church, but get close to the Lord. The world is getting close to the end. Get close to the Lord."[114] In 2013, Richard elaborated on his spiritual philosophies, stating "God talked to me the other night. He said He's getting ready to come. The world's getting ready to end and He's coming, wrapped in flames of fire with a rainbow around his throne." Rolling Stone reported that his apocalyptic prophesies generated snickers from some audience members as well as cheers of support. Richard responded to the laughter by stating: "When I talk to you about [Jesus], I'm not playing. I'm almost 81 years old. Without God, I wouldn't be here."[159]

In 1986, it was reported that Richard converted to Judaism at the encouragement of Bob Dylan—but "Richard saw Judaism as not contradicting his other beliefs."[160][161][162]

In 2017, Richard returned to his SDA spiritual roots and appeared in a lengthy televised interview on 3ABN and later he shared his personal testimony at 3ABN Fall Camp Meeting 2017.[163][164][165]

Health problems and death

In October 1985, having finished his album Lifetime Friend, Richard returned from England to film a guest spot on the show Miami Vice. Following the taping, he accidentally crashed his sports car into a telephone pole in West Hollywood, California. He suffered a broken right leg, broken ribs and head and facial injuries.[166] His recovery from the accident took several months,[166] preventing him from attending the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in January 1986 where he was one of several inductees. He instead supplied a recorded message.[88]

In 2007, Richard began having problems walking due to sciatica in his left leg, requiring him to use crutches.[167][168] In November 2009, he entered a hospital to have replacement surgery on his left hip. Despite returning to performing the following year, Richard's problems with his hip continued and he was brought onstage in a wheelchair, only being able to play sitting down.[169] On September 30, 2013, he revealed to CeeLo Green at a Recording Academy fundraiser that he had suffered a heart attack the week before at home. Taking aspirin and having his son turn on the air conditioner saved his life according to his doctor. Richard stated, "Jesus had something for me. He brought me through."[159]

On April 28, 2016, Richard's friend Bootsy Collins stated on his Facebook page that, "he is not in the best of health so I ask all the Funkateers to lift him up." Reports began being posted on the internet stating that Richard was in grave health and that his family were gathering at his bedside. On May 3, 2016, Rolling Stone provided a health update by Richard and his lawyer; Richard stated, "not only is my family not gathering around me because I'm ill, but I'm still singing. I don't perform like I used to, but I have my singing voice, I walk around, I had hip surgery a while ago but I'm healthy.'" His lawyer said, "He's 83. I don't know how many 83-year-olds still get up and rock it out every week, but in light of the rumors, I wanted to tell you that he's vivacious and conversant about a ton of different things and he's still very active in a daily routine."[170] Though Richard continued to sing in his eighties, he kept away from the stage.[171]

On May 9, 2020, after a two month illness, Richard died at the age of 87 at his home in Tullahoma, Tennessee,[2] from a cause related to bone cancer.[172][2][173] His brother, sister, and son were with him at the time.[174][175][176] Richard received tributes from many popular musicians, including Bob Dylan,[177] Paul McCartney,[178] Mick Jagger,[179] John Fogerty,[180] Elton John,[181] and Lenny Kravitz,[182] as well as many others, such as film director John Waters,[183] who were influenced by Richard's music and persona. He is interred at Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama.[184]

Legacy

Music

He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll", and history would seem to bear out Little Richard's boast. More than any other performer—save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll.

—Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[88]

Richard was nicknamed the "Architect of Rock and Roll".[185] His music and performance style had a pivotal effect on the shape of the sound and style of popular music genres of the 20th century.[34][44][186] As a rock and roll pioneer, Richard embodied its spirit more flamboyantly than any other performer.[187] Richard's raspy shouting style gave the genre one of its most identifiable and influential vocal sounds and his fusion of boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B and gospel music blazed its rhythmic trail.[187][188] Richard's innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk, respectively.[189] He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come.[190][191][192] Combining elements of boogie, gospel, and blues, Richard introduced several of rock music's most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power, and its distinctive beat and innovative visceral rhythms.[193] He departed from boogie-woogie's shuffle rhythm and introduced a new distinctive rock beat, where the beat division is even at all tempos. He reinforced the new rock rhythm with a two-handed approach, playing patterns with his right hand, with the rhythm typically popping out in the piano's high register. His new rhythm, which he introduced with "Tutti Frutti" (1955), became the basis for the standard rock beat, which was later consolidated by Chuck Berry.[194] "Lucille" (1957) foreshadowed the rhythmic feel of 1960s classic rock in several ways, including its heavy bassline, slower tempo, strong rock beat played by the entire band, and verse–chorus form similar to blues.[195]

 
Little Richard in concert

Richard's voice was able to generate croons, wails, and screams unprecedented in popular music.[34] He was cited by two of soul music's pioneers, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as contributing to the genre's early development. Redding stated that most of his music was patterned after Richard's, referring to his 1953 recording "Directly From My Heart To You" as the personification of soul, and that he had "done a lot for [him] and [his] soul brothers in the music business."[196] Cooke said in 1962 that Richard had done "so much for our music".[197] Cooke had a top 40 hit in 1963 with his cover of Richard's 1956 hit "Send Me Some Loving".[198]

James Brown and others credited Richard and his mid-1950s backing band, The Upsetters, with having been the first to put the funk in the rock beat. This innovation sparked the transition from 1950s rock and roll to 1960s funk.[88][199][200][201]

Richard's hits of the mid-1950s, such as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally", "Keep A-Knockin'" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly", were generally characterized by playful lyrics with sexually suggestive connotations.[34] AllMusic writer Richie Unterberger stated that Little Richard "merged the fire of gospel with New Orleans R&B, pounding the piano and wailing with gleeful abandon", and that while "other R&B greats of the early 1950s had been moving in a similar direction, none of them matched the sheer electricity of Richard's vocals. With his high-speed deliveries, ecstatic trills, and the overjoyed force of personality in his singing, he was crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock and roll."[44] Due to his innovative music and style, he's often widely acknowledged as the "architect of rock and roll".[88]

Emphasizing the folk influences of Richard, English professor W. T. Lhamon Jr. wrote, "His songs were literally good booty. They were the repressed stuff of underground lore. And in Little Richard they found a vehicle prepared to bear their chocked energy, at least for his capsulated moment."[202]

Ray Charles introduced him at a concert in 1988 as "a man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what's happening today."[203] Richard's contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, all recorded covers of his works.[204] As they wrote about him for their Man of the Year – Legend category in 2010, GQ magazine stated that Richard "is, without question, the boldest and most influential of the founding fathers of rock'n'roll."[108]

Society

In addition to his musical style, Richard was cited as one of the first crossover black artists, reaching audiences of all races. His music and concerts broke the color line,[205] drawing blacks and whites together despite attempts to sustain segregation. As H.B. Barnum explained in Quasar of Rock, Little Richard "opened the door. He brought the races together."[206] Barnum described Richard's music as not being "boy-meets-girl-girl-meets-boy things, they were fun records, all fun. And they had a lot to say sociologically in our country and the world."[53] Barnum also stated that Richard's "charisma was a whole new thing to the music business", explaining that "he would burst onto the stage from anywhere, and you wouldn't be able to hear anything but the roar of the audience. He might come out and walk on the piano. He might go out into the audience." Barnum also stated that Richard was innovative in that he would wear colorful capes, blouse shirts, makeup and suits studded with multi-colored stones and sequins, and that he also brought flickering stage lighting from his show business experience into performance venues where rock and roll artists performed.[207] In 2015, the National Museum of African American Music honored Richard for helping to shatter the color line on the music charts changing American culture forever.[120][205]

Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister of the heavy metal band Motörhead spoke highly of Penniman, stating: "Little Richard was always my main man. How hard must it have been for him: gay, black and singing in the South? But his records are a joyous good time from beginning to end."[208]

Influence

Richard influenced generations of performers across musical genres.[57][209] Quincy Jones stated that Richard was "an innovator whose influence spans America's musical diaspora from Gospel, the Blues & R&B, to Rock & Roll, & Hip-Hop."[210] James Brown and Otis Redding both idolized him.[196][211] Brown allegedly came up with the Famous Flames debut hit, "Please, Please, Please", after Richard had written the words on a napkin.[212][213] Redding started his professional career with Richard's band, The Upsetters.[214] and first entered a talent show performing Richard's "Heeby Jeebies", winning for fifteen consecutive weeks.[215] Ike Turner claimed most of Tina Turner's early vocal delivery was based on Richard, something Richard reiterated in the introduction of Turner's autobiography, Takin' Back My Name.[216] Bob Dylan first performed covers of Richard's songs on piano in high school with his rock and roll group, the Golden Chords; in 1959 when leaving school, he wrote in his yearbook under "Ambition": "to join Little Richard".[217] Jimi Hendrix was influenced in appearance (clothing and hairstyle/mustache) and sound by Richard. He was quoted in 1966 saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice."[218] Others influenced by Richard early on in their lives included Bob Seger and John Fogerty.[219][220] Michael Jackson admitted that Richard had been a huge influence on him prior to the release of Off the Wall.[221] Rock critics noted similarities between Prince's androgynous look, music and vocal style and Richard's.[222][223][224]

The origins of Cliff Richard's name change from Harry Webb was seen as a partial tribute to his musical hero Richard and singer Rick Richards.[225] The members of the Beatles were heavily influenced by Richard, including Paul McCartney and George Harrison. McCartney idolized him in school and later used his recordings as inspiration for his uptempo rockers, such as "I'm Down".[226][227] "Long Tall Sally" was the first song McCartney performed in public.[228] McCartney would later state, "I could do Little Richard's voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing. It's like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it."[229] During the Beatles' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Harrison commented, "thank you all very much, especially the rock 'n' rollers, an' Little Richard there, if it wasn't for (gesturing to Little Richard), it was all his fault, really."[230] Upon hearing "Long Tall Sally" in 1956, John Lennon later commented that he was so impressed that he "couldn't speak".[231] Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were also profoundly influenced by Richard, with Jagger citing him as his introduction to R&B music and referring to him as "the originator and my first idol".[76] Late 1960s hard rock and heavy metal pioneer John Kay of Steppenwolf, as a young teen who did not understand the English language in East Prussia in the mid-1950s, was first inspired by rock 'n' roll music upon hearing Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti' on a U.S. Armed Forces station on a homemade radio in 1956. Kay would later state, "it was unlike anything I ever heard before and it was instant 'chicken skin time' - I mean goosebumps from head to toe. From that time on my focus was to hear as much of that stuff as possible, and after a while it became a kind of adolescent dream that someday [I] would be on the other side of the ocean, would learn how to speak English, and this music is something that I would play."[232][233][234] Richard was also influential on the music of Ritchie Valens, before he rose to fame, he was known as the “Little Richard of San Fernando”. Richard was also the first rock n roll influence on Rod Stewart, Peter Wolf, and Robert Plant. Plant was not interested in listening to music until he heard Little Richard on record, later stating, "I was a 13-year-old boy in Kidderminster when I heard Little Richard for the first time. My parents shielded me from anything that was worldly. I spent my time searching feverishly through my stamp collection or working on my Meccano, and then someone played me Good Golly, Miss Molly. The sound! It was fantastic, indescribable."[235][236][237] David Bowie called Richard his "inspiration" stating upon listening to "Tutti Frutti" that he "heard God".[238][239]

After opening for him with his band Bluesology, pianist Reginald Dwight was inspired to be a "rock and roll piano player", later changing his name to Elton John.[240] Farrokh Bulsara performed covers of Richard's songs as a teen, before finding fame as Freddie Mercury, frontman for Queen.[241] Lou Reed referred to Richard as his "rock and roll hero", deriving inspiration from "the soulful, primal force" of the sound Richard and his saxophonist made on "Long Tall Sally". Reed later stated, "I don't know why and I don't care, but I wanted to go to wherever that sound was and make a life."[242] Patti Smith said, "To me, Little Richard was a person that was able to focus a certain physical, anarchistic, and spiritual energy into a form which we call rock 'n' roll ... I understood it as something that had to do with my future. When I was a little girl, Santa Claus didn't turn me on. Easter Bunny didn't turn me on. God turned me on. Little Richard turned me on."[243] The music of Deep Purple and Motörhead was also heavily influenced by Richard, as well as that of AC/DC.[244][245] The latter's early lead vocalist and co-songwriter Bon Scott idolized Richard and aspired to sing like him, its lead guitarist and co-songwriter Angus Young was first inspired to play guitar after listening to Richard's music, and rhythm guitarist and co-writer Malcolm Young derived his signature sound from playing his guitar like Richard's piano.[246][247][248][249][244][245] Later performers such as Mystikal, André "3000" Benjamin of Outkast and Bruno Mars were cited by critics as having emulated Richard's style in their own works. Mystikal's rap vocal delivery was compared to Richard's.[250] André 3000's vocals in Outkast's hit, "Hey Ya!", were compared to an "indie rock Little Richard".[251] Bruno Mars declared that Richard was one of his and his performer-father's primary early influences.[252][253][254] Mars' song, "Runaway Baby" from his album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans was cited by The New York Times as "channeling Little Richard".[255] Prior to his death in 2017, Audioslave's and Soundgarden's frontman Chris Cornell traced his musical influences back to Richard via the Beatles.[256]

Honors

 
Little Richard, interviewed during the 60th Annual Academy Awards, 1988

In the early 1990s, a portion of Mercer University Drive (between Telfair and College Streets) in Macon, Georgia, was renamed "Little Richard Penniman Boulevard".[257] Just south of the easternmost portion of the renamed boulevard lies Little Richard Penniman Park.

In 2007, an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists voted "Tutti Frutti" number one on Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World, hailing the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock and roll".[258][259] In April 2012, Rolling Stone magazine declared that the song "still has the most inspired rock lyric on record".[260] The same recording was inducted to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2010, with the library claiming the "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music".[261]

In 2010, Time magazine listed Here's Little Richard as one of the 100 Greatest and Most Influential Albums of All Time.[63] Rolling Stone listed his Here's Little Richard at number fifty on the magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[262] He was ranked eighth on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[263] Rolling Stone listed three of Richard's recordings, "The Girl Can't Help It", "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti", on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[264] Two of the latter songs and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" were listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[265]

The UK issue of GQ named Richard its Man of the Year in its Legend category in 2010.[108]

Richard appeared in person to receive an honorary degree from his hometown's Mercer University in May 2013.[266] The day before the doctorate of humanities degree was to be bestowed upon him, the mayor of Macon announced that one of Richard's childhood homes, an historic site, would be moved to a rejuvenated section of that city's Pleasant Hill district to be restored and named the Little Richard Penniman—Pleasant Hill Resource House. It would serve as a meeting place where local history and artifacts provided by will be displayed.[267][268][269]

In early 2019, Maggie Gonzalez, a resident of Macon, Georgia, began an online campaign proposing that a statue of Richard be erected in downtown Macon, taking the place of a Confederate memorial that currently occupies the space. Georgia law forbids the tearing down of Confederate statues, though they can be relocated; Gonzalez has proposed that it could be moved to nearby Rose Hill Cemetery.[270]

On March 14, 2021, Bruno Mars with Anderson .Paak performed at the 2021 Grammy Award ceremony to honor Little Richard. The performance was reported in the media to be the highlight of the show.[271][272]

Awards

Although Richard never won a competitive Grammy (his classic run of hits ended before the Grammys commenced), he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.[273] His album Here's Little Richard and three of his songs ("Tutti Frutti", "Lucille" and "Long Tall Sally") are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[274]

Richard received various awards for his key role in the formation of popular music genres.

In popular culture

In 2000, Leon portrayed Little Richard in the NBC television biopic, Little Richard, directed by Robert Townsend.

In 2014, actor Brandon Mychal Smith received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Richard in the James Brown biographical drama film Get on Up.[286][287][288] Mick Jagger co-produced the motion picture.[289][290]

During season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race, contestant Kennedy Davenport portrayed Richard during the Snatch Game episode, making him the first male character ever impersonated for the challenge. Davenport would later go on to win the challenge alongside fellow contestant Ginger Minj for her impersonation of Adele.

In 2022, Alton Mason portrayed Little Richard in the movie biopic, Elvis, directed by Baz Luhrmann.[291]

Discography

Main article: Little Richard discography
Main albums

Filmography

References

Citations

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Further reading

  • Berry, Jason (2009). Up from the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music since World War II. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. ISBN 978-1-887366-87-8.
  • Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. Schirmer Trade. ISBN 978-0-8256-7284-2. OCLC 36824884.
  • Brown, Geoff (2002). Otis Redding: Try a Little Tenderness. Canongate U.S. ISBN 978-1-84195-316-8.
  • Henderson, David (2008). 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-3434-1.
  • Hinckley, David (1995). The Rolling Stones: Black & White Blues. Turner Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1-57036-150-0.
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (3rd (2007) ed.). Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-733-3.
  • Weidman, Rich (2011). The Doors FAQ: All That's Left to Know about the Kings of Acid Rock. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-61713-110-3.

External links

May 08, 2023
little, richard, this, article, about, american, singer, other, uses, disambiguation, richard, wayne, penniman, december, 1932, 2020, known, professionally, american, singer, musician, songwriter, influential, figure, popular, music, culture, seven, decades, d. This article is about the American singer For other uses see Little Richard disambiguation Richard Wayne Penniman December 5 1932 May 9 2020 known professionally as Little Richard was an American singer musician and songwriter He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades Described as the Architect of Rock and Roll Richard s most celebrated work dates from the mid 1950s when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music characterized by frenetic piano playing pounding back beat and powerful raspy vocals laid the foundation for rock and roll Richard s innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres including soul and funk He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations Little RichardRichard in 1966Background informationBirth nameRichard Wayne PennimanBorn 1932 12 05 December 5 1932Macon Georgia U S DiedMay 9 2020 2020 05 09 aged 87 Tullahoma Tennessee U S GenresRock and rollrhythm and bluesgospelsoulOccupation s SingermusiciansongwriterInstrument s VocalspianoYears active1947 2020LabelsRCA VictorPeacockSpecialtyEndRonnexLondonGoldiscLittle StarMercuryAtlanticVee JayModernOkehBrunswickRepriseK TelWarner Bros Disney Tutti Frutti 1955 one of Richard s signature songs became an instant hit crossing over to the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom His next hit single Long Tall Sally 1956 hit No 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best Sellers chart followed by a rapid succession of fifteen more in less than three years His performances during this period resulted in integration between white Americans and black Americans in his audience In 1962 after a five year period during which Richard abandoned rock and roll music for born again Christianity concert promoter Don Arden persuaded him to tour Europe During this time the Beatles opened for Richard on some tour dates Richard is cited as one of the first crossover black artists reaching audiences of all races His music and concerts broke the color line drawing black and white people together despite attempts to sustain segregation Many of his contemporaries including Elvis Presley Buddy Holly Bill Haley Jerry Lee Lewis the Everly Brothers Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran recorded covers of his works Richard was honored by many institutions He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986 He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame He was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation In 2015 Richard received a Rhapsody amp Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music for his key role in the formation of popular music genres and helping to bring an end to the racial divide on the music charts and in concert in the mid 1950s changing American culture significantly Tutti Frutti was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010 which stated that his unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 2 1 1947 1955 Beginnings 2 2 1956 1962 Initial success and conversion 2 3 1962 1979 Return to secular music 2 4 1984 1999 Comeback 2 5 2000 2020 Later years 3 Personal life 3 1 Relationships and family 3 2 Sexuality 3 3 Drug use 3 4 Religion 3 5 Health problems and death 4 Legacy 4 1 Music 4 2 Society 4 3 Influence 4 4 Honors 4 5 Awards 5 In popular culture 6 Discography 7 Filmography 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External linksEarly life EditRichard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon Georgia on December 5 1932 1 the third of twelve children of Leva Mae nee Stewart and Charles Bud Penniman His father was a church deacon and a brick mason 2 who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn 3 4 His mother was a member of Macon s New Hope Baptist Church 5 Initially his first name was supposed to have been Ricardo but an error resulted in Richard instead 3 6 The Penniman children were raised in a neighborhood of Macon called Pleasant Hill 5 In childhood he was nicknamed Lil Richard by his family because of his small and skinny frame A mischievous child who played pranks on neighbors he began singing in church and taking piano lessons at a young age 7 8 Possibly as a result of complications at birth he had a slight deformity that left one of his legs shorter than the other This produced an unusual gait and he was mocked for his allegedly effeminate appearance 9 His family was very religious and joined various A M E Baptist and Pentecostal churches with some family members becoming ministers He enjoyed the Pentecostal churches the most because of their charismatic worship and live music 10 He later recalled that people in his neighborhood sang gospel songs throughout the day during segregation to keep a positive outlook because there was so much poverty so much prejudice in those days 11 He had observed that people sang to feel their connection with God and to wash their trials and burdens away 12 Gifted with a loud singing voice he recalled that he was always changing the key upwards and that he was once stopped from singing in church for screaming and hollering so loud earning him the nickname War Hawk 13 As a child he would beat on the steps of the house and on tin cans and pots and pans or whatever while singing which annoyed neighbors 14 His initial musical influences were gospel performers such as Brother Joe May Sister Rosetta Tharpe Mahalia Jackson and Marion Williams May a singing evangelist who was known as the Thunderbolt of the Middle West because of his phenomenal range and vocal power inspired Richard to become a preacher 15 16 He credited the Clara Ward Singers for one of his distinctive hollers 17 Richard attended Macon s Hudson High School 18 where he was a below average student He eventually learned to play alto saxophone joining his school s marching band while in fifth grade 14 While in high school he got a part time job at Macon City Auditorium for local secular and gospel concert promoter Clint Brantley He sold Coca Cola to crowds during concerts of star performers of the day such as Cab Calloway Lucky Millinder and his favorite singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe 19 Music career Edit1947 1955 Beginnings Edit In October 1947 Sister Rosetta Tharpe overheard the fourteen year old Richard singing her songs before a performance at the Macon City Auditorium She invited him to open her show 20 After the show Tharpe paid him inspiring him to become a professional performer 19 21 Richard stated that his piano style was greatly influenced by Ike Turner s piano intro on Rocket 88 22 In 1949 he began performing in Doctor Nubillo s traveling show Richard was inspired to wear turbans and capes in his career by Nubillo who also carried a black stick and exhibited something he called the devil s child the dried up body of a baby with claw feet like a bird and horns on its head Nubillo told Richard he was gonna be famous but that he would have to go where the grass is greener 23 Before entering the tenth grade Richard left his family home and joined Hudson s Medicine Show in 1949 performing Louis Jordan s Caldonia 23 Richard recalled that the song was the first secular R amp B song he learned since his family had strict rules against playing R amp B music which they considered devil music 24 Other sources also indicate that Little Richard was influenced by Jordan In fact according to one reliable source the whoop sound on Jordan s record Caldonia sounds eerily like the vocal tone Little Richard would adopt in addition to the Jordan style pencil thin mustache 25 26 Richard also performed in drag during this time performing under the name Princess LaVonne 27 In 1950 Richard joined his first musical band Buster Brown s Orchestra where Brown gave him the name Little Richard 28 Performing in the minstrel show circuit Richard in and out of drag appeared for vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam the Tidy Jolly Steppers the King Brothers Circus and the Broadway Follies 29 Having settled in Atlanta at this point Richard began listening to rhythm and blues and frequented Atlanta clubs including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock where he saw performers such as Roy Brown and Billy Wright onstage Richard was further influenced by Brown s and Wright s flashy style of showmanship and was even more influenced by Wright s flamboyant persona and showmanship Inspired by Brown and Wright he decided to become a rhythm and blues singer and after befriending Wright began to learn how to be an entertainer from him and began adapting a pompadour hairdo similar to Wright s as well as styling a pencil mustache using Wright s brand of facial pancake makeup and wearing flashier clothes 30 Impressed by his singing voice Wright put him in contact with Zenas Sears a local DJ Sears recorded Richard at his station backed by Wright s band The recordings led to a contract that year with RCA Victor 31 Richard recorded a total of eight sides for RCA Victor including the blues ballad Every Hour which became his first single and a hit in Georgia 31 The release of Every Hour improved his relationship with his father who began regularly playing the song on his nightclub jukebox 31 Shortly after the release of Every Hour Richard was hired to front Perry Welch and His Orchestra and played at clubs and army bases for 100 a week 32 Richard left RCA Victor in February 1952 after his records for the label failed to chart the recordings were marketed with little promotion from RCA Victor although ads for the records showed up in Billboard Magazine After his father s death in 1952 Richard began to find success through RCA Victor s reissue of the recordings on the budget RCA Camden label He continued to perform during this time and Clint Brantley agreed to manage Richard s career Moving to Houston he formed a band called the Tempo Toppers performing as part of blues package tours in Southern clubs such as Club Tijuana in New Orleans and Club Matinee in Houston Richard signed with Don Robey s Peacock Records in February 1953 recording eight sides including four with Johnny Otis and his band that were unreleased at the time 33 Like his venture with RCA Victor none of his Peacock singles charted despite his growing reputation for his high energy antics onstage 34 Richard began complaining of monetary issues with Robey resulting in Richard getting knocked out by Robey during a scuffle Disillusioned by the record business Richard returned to Macon in 1954 Struggling with poverty he settled for work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines While in Macon he met Esquerita whose flamboyant onstage persona and dynamic piano playing would deeply influence Richard s approach to performance 35 36 That year he disbanded the Tempo Toppers and formed a harder driving rhythm and blues band the Upsetters which included drummer Charles Connor and saxophonist Wilbert Lee Diamond Smith and toured under Brantley s management In 1954 Richard signed on to a Southern tour with Little Johnny Taylor 37 38 39 The band supported R amp B singer Christine Kittrell on some recordings then began to tour successfully even without a bass guitarist forcing drummer Connor to thump real hard on his bass drum in order to get a bass fiddle effect 37 Around this time Richard signed a contract to tour with fellow R amp B singer Little Johnny Taylor A poster for a Little Richard show c 1956 At the suggestion of Lloyd Price Richard sent a demo to Price s label Specialty Records in February 1955 Months passed before Richard got a call from the label 40 Finally in September of that year Specialty owner Art Rupe loaned Richard money to buy out of his Peacock contract and set him to work with producer Robert Bumps Blackwell 41 Upon hearing the demo Blackwell felt Richard was Specialty s answer to Ray Charles however Richard told him he preferred the sound of Fats Domino Blackwell sent him to New Orleans where he recorded at Cosimo Matassa s J amp M Studios recording there with several of Domino s session musicians including drummer Earl Palmer and saxophonist Lee Allen 42 Richard s recordings that day failed to produce much inspiration or interest although Blackwell saw some promise 43 44 Frustrated Blackwell and Richard went to relax at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub According to Blackwell Richard then launched into a risque dirty blues he titled Tutti Frutti Blackwell said he felt the song had hit potential and hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to replace some of Richard s sexual lyrics with less controversial ones He also changed the microphone placement and pushed Richard s voice forward 43 44 Recorded in three takes in September 1955 Tutti Frutti was released as a single that November 45 and became an instant hit reaching No 2 on Billboard magazine s Rhythm and Blues Best Sellers chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom It reached No 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in America and No 29 on the British singles chart eventually selling a million copies 34 46 1956 1962 Initial success and conversion Edit A lot of songs I sang to crowds first to watch their reaction That s how I knew they d hit Little Richard 47 Richard s next hit single Long Tall Sally 1956 hit number one on the R amp B chart and number thirteen on the Top 100 while reaching the top ten in Britain Like Tutti Frutti it sold over a million copies Following his success Richard built up his backup band The Upsetters with the addition of saxophonists Clifford Gene Burks and leader Grady Gaines bassist Olsie Baysee Robinson and guitarist Nathaniel Buster Douglas 48 Richard began performing on package tours across the United States Art Rupe described the differences between Richard and a similar hitmaker of the early rock and roll period by stating that while the similarities between Little Richard and Fats Domino for recording purposes were close Richard would sometimes stand up at the piano while he was recording and that onstage where Domino was plodding very slow Richard was very dynamic completely uninhibited unpredictable wild So the band took on the ambience of the vocalist 49 Richard s performances like most early rock and roll shows resulted in integrated audience reaction during an era where public places were divided into white and colored domains In these package tours Richard and other artists such as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry would enable audiences of both races to enter the building albeit still segregated e g blacks on the balcony and whites on the main floor As his later Producer H B Barnum explained Richard s performances enabled audiences to come together to dance 50 Despite broadcasts on television from local supremacist groups such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council warning that rock and roll brings the races together Richard s popularity was helping to shatter the myth that black performers could not successfully perform at white only venues especially in the South where racism was most overt 51 Richard s high energy antics included lifting his leg while playing the piano climbing on top of his piano running on and off the stage and throwing his souvenirs to the audience 52 He also began using capes and suits studded with multi colored stones and sequins Richard said he began to be more flamboyant onstage so no one would think he was after the white girls 53 Richard claims that a show at Baltimore s Royal Theatre in June 1956 led to women throwing their undergarments onstage at him resulting in other female fans repeating the action saying it was the first time that had happened to any artist 54 Richard s show would stop several times that night due to fans being restrained from jumping off the balcony and then rushing to the stage to touch him 54 Overall Richard would produce seven singles in the United States alone in 1956 with five of them also charting in the UK including Slippin and Slidin Rip It Up Ready Teddy The Girl Can t Help It and Lucille Immediately after releasing Tutti Frutti which was then protocol for the industry safer white recording artists such as Pat Boone covered the song sending the song to the top twenty of the charts several positions higher than Richard s His fellow rock and roll peers Elvis Presley and Bill Haley also recorded his songs later that same year Befriending Alan Freed 55 the disc jockey eventually put him in his rock and roll movies such as Don t Knock the Rock 56 and Mister Rock and Roll Richard was given a larger singing role in the film The Girl Can t Help It 57 That year he scored more hit success with songs such as Jenny Jenny and Keep A Knockin the latter becoming his first top ten single on the Billboard Top 100 By the time he left Specialty in 1959 Richard had scored a total of nine top 40 pop singles and seventeen top 40 R amp B singles 58 59 Richard performed at the famed twelfth Cavalcade of Jazz held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin Sr on September 2 1956 Also performing that day were Dinah Washington The Mel Williams Dots Julie Stevens Chuck Higgins Orchestra Bo Rhambo Willie Hayden amp Five Black Birds The Premiers Gerald Wilson and His 20 Pc Recording Orchestra and Jerry Gray and his Orchestra 60 61 Good Golly Miss Molly 45 rpm recording on Specialty Records Shortly after the release of Tutti Frutti Richard relocated to Los Angeles After achieving success as a recording artist and live performer Richard moved into a wealthy formerly predominantly white neighborhood living close to black celebrities such as boxer Joe Louis 62 Richard s first album Here s Little Richard was released by Specialty in March 1957 and peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Top LPs chart Similar to most albums released during that era the album featured six released singles and filler tracks 63 In early 1958 Specialty released his second album Little Richard which didn t chart In October 1957 Richard embarked on a package tour in Australia with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran During the middle of the tour he shocked the public by announcing he was following a life in the ministry 64 Richard claimed in his autobiography that during a flight from Melbourne to Sydney that his plane was experiencing some difficulty and he claimed to have seen the plane s red hot engines and felt angels were holding it up 65 At the end of his Sydney performance Richard saw a bright red fireball flying across the sky above him and claimed he was deeply shaken 65 Though it was eventually told to him that it was the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1 Richard took it as a sign from God to repent from performing secular music and his wild lifestyle at the time 64 Returning to the States ten days earlier than expected Richard later read news of his original flight having crashed into the Pacific Ocean as a further sign to do as God wanted 66 After a farewell performance at the Apollo Theater and a final recording session with Specialty later that month Richard enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville Alabama to study theology 67 68 Despite his claims of spiritual rebirth Richard admitted his reasons for leaving were more monetary During his tenure at Specialty despite earning millions for the label Richard complained that he did not know the label had cut the percentage of royalties he was to earn for his recordings 69 Specialty continued to release Richard recordings including Good Golly Miss Molly and his unique version of Kansas City until 1960 Ending his contract with the label Richard agreed to relinquish any royalties for his material 70 In 1958 Richard formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team traveling across the country to preach 71 A month after his decision to leave secular music Richard met Ernestine Harvin a secretary from Washington D C and the couple married on July 11 1959 72 Richard ventured into gospel music first recording for End Records before signing with Mercury Records in 1961 where he eventually released King of the Gospel Singers in 1962 produced by Quincy Jones who later remarked that Richard s vocals impressed him more than any other vocalist he had worked with 73 His childhood heroine Mahalia Jackson wrote in the liner notes of the album that Richard sang gospel the way it should be sung 74 While Richard was no longer charting in the U S with pop music some of his gospel songs such as He s Not Just a Soldier and He Got What He Wanted and Crying in the Chapel reached the pop charts in the U S and the UK 75 1962 1979 Return to secular music Edit I heard so much about the audience reaction I thought there must be some exaggeration But it was all true He drove the whole house into a complete frenzy I couldn t believe the power of Little Richard onstage He was amazing Mick Jagger 76 In 1962 concert promoter Don Arden persuaded Little Richard to tour Europe after telling him his records were still selling well there With soul singer Sam Cooke as an opening act Richard who featured a teenage Billy Preston in his gospel band figured it was a gospel tour and after Cooke s delayed arrival forced him to cancel his show on the opening date performed only gospel material during the show leading to boos from the audience expecting Richard to sing his rock and roll hits The following night Richard viewed Cooke s well received performance Bringing back his competitive drive Richard and Preston warmed up in darkness before launching into Long Tall Sally resulting in frenetic hysterical responses from the audience A show at Mansfield s Granada Theatre ended early after fans rushed the stage 77 Hearing of Richard s shows Brian Epstein manager of the Beatles asked Don Arden to allow his band to open for Richard on some tour dates to which he agreed The first show for which the Beatles opened was at New Brighton s Tower Ballroom that October 78 The following month they along with Swedish singer Jerry Williams and his band The Violents 79 opened for Richard at the Star Club in Hamburg 80 During this time Richard advised the group on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations 80 Back in the United States Richard recorded six rock and roll songs with his 1950 s band the Upsetters for Little Star Records under the name World Famous Upsetters hoping this would keep his options open in maintaining his position as a minister In the fall of 1963 Richard was called by a concert promoter to rescue a sagging tour featuring The Everly Brothers Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones Richard agreed and helped to save the tour from flopping At the end of that tour Richard was given his own television special for Granada Television titled The Little Richard Spectacular The special became a ratings hit and after 60 000 fan letters was rebroadcast twice 81 In 1964 now openly re embracing rock and roll Richard released Bama Lama Bama Loo on Specialty Records Due to his UK exposure the song reached the top twenty there but only climbed to number 82 in the U S 82 Later in the year he signed with Vee Jay Records then on its dying legs to release his comeback album Little Richard Is Back Due to the arrival of the Beatles and other British bands as well as the rise of soul labels such as Motown and Stax Records and the popularity of James Brown Richard s new releases were not well promoted or well received by radio stations In November December 1964 Jimi Hendrix joined Richard s Upsetters band as a full member 83 84 In December 1964 Richard brought Hendrix and childhood friend and piano teacher Eskew Reeder to a New York studio to re record an album s worth of his greatest hits He went on tour with his new group of Upsetters to promote the album In early 1965 Richard took Hendrix and Billy Preston to a New York studio where they recorded the Don Covay soul ballad I Don t Know What You ve Got But It s Got Me which became a number 12 R amp B hit 85 Three other songs were recorded during the sessions Dance a Go Go aka Dancin All Around the World You Better Stop and Come See About Me possibly an instrumental but You Better Stop was not issued until 1971 and Come See About Me has yet to see official release 86 Around this time Richard and Jimi appeared in a show starring Soupy Sales at the Brooklyn Paramount New York Richard s flamboyance and drive for dominance reportedly got him thrown off the show Little Richard in 1966 Hendrix and Richard clashed over the spotlight as well as Hendrix s tardiness wardrobe and stage antics Hendrix also complained over not being properly paid by Richard In early July 1965 Richard s brother Robert Penniman fired Jimi however Jimi wrote to his father Al Hendrix that he quit Richard as you can t live on promises when you re on the road so I had to cut that mess aloose Hendrix had not been paid for five and a half weeks and was owed 1 000 dollars Hendrix then rejoined the Isley Brothers band the IB Specials 87 Richard later signed with Modern Records releasing a modest charter Do You Feel It before leaving for Okeh Records in early 1966 His former Specialty labelmate Larry Williams produced two albums for Richard on Okeh the studio release The Explosive Little Richard which utilised a Motown influenced sound and produced the modest charters Poor Dog and Commandments of Love and Little Richard s Greatest Hits Recorded Live which returned him to the album charts 88 89 90 Richard was later scathing about this period declaring Larry Williams the worst producer in the world 91 In 1967 Richard signed with Brunswick Records but after clashing with the label over musical direction he left the label the following year Little Richard in 1967 Richard felt that producers on his labels worked in not promoting his records during this period Later he claimed they kept trying to push him to records similar to Motown and felt he wasn t treated with appropriate respect 92 Richard often performed in dingy clubs and lounges with little support from his label While Richard managed to perform in huge venues overseas such as in England and France in the U S Richard had to perform on the Chitlin Circuit Richard s flamboyant look while a hit during the 1950s failed to help his labels to promote him to more conservative black record buyers 93 Richard later claimed that his decision to backslide from his ministry led religious clergymen to protest his new recordings 94 Making matters worse Richard said was his insistence on performing in front of integrated audiences at the time of the black liberation movement shortly after the Watts riots and the formation of the Black Panthers which caused many black radio disk jockeys in certain areas of the country including Los Angeles to choose not to play his music 95 Now acting as his manager Larry Williams convinced Richard to focus on his live shows By 1968 he had ditched the Upsetters for his new backup band the Crown Jewels performing on the Canadian TV show Where It s At Richard was also featured on the Monkees TV special 33 Revolutions per Monkee in April 1969 Williams booked Richard shows in Las Vegas casinos and resorts leading Richard to adopt a wilder flamboyant and androgynous look inspired by the success of his former backing guitarist Jimi Hendrix Richard was soon booked at rock festivals such as the Atlantic City Pop Festival where he stole the show from headliner Janis Joplin Richard produced a similar show stealer at the Toronto Pop Festival with John Lennon as the headliner These successes brought Little Richard to talk shows such as the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the Dick Cavett Show making him a major celebrity again 96 Responding to his reputation as a successful concert performer Reprise Records signed Richard in 1970 and he released the album The Rill Thing with the philosophical single Freedom Blues becoming his biggest charted single in years In May 1970 Richard made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine Despite the success of Freedom Blues none of Richard s other Reprise singles charted with the exception of Greenwood Mississippi a swamp rock original by guitar hero Travis Wammack who incidentally played on the track It charted only briefly on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box pop chart also on the Billboard Country charts made a strong showing on WWRL in New York before disappearing Richard became a featured guest instrumentalist and vocalist on recordings by acts such as Delaney and Bonnie Joey Covington and Joe Walsh and was prominently featured on Canned Heat s 1972 hit single Rockin with the King To keep up with his finances and bookings Richard and three of his brothers formed a management company Bud Hole Incorporated On American TV Richard announced that he would be in a Rock Hudson motion picture playing The Insane Minister The appearance has never seen the light of day He also mentioned a new project involving Mick Jagger and Joe Cocker celebrating his 20 years in show business though it was never realized 97 By 1972 Richard had entered the rock and roll revival circuit and that year he co headlined the London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium with his musical peer Chuck Berry where he d come on stage and announce himself the king of rock and roll fittingly also the title of his 1971 album with Reprise and told the packed audience there to let it all hang out Richard however was booed during the show when he climbed on top of his piano and stopped singing he also seemed to ignore much of the crowd To make matters worse he showed up with just five musicians and struggled through low lighting and bad microphones When the concert film documenting the show came out his performance was considered generally strong though his fans noticed a drop in energy and vocal artistry Two songs he performed did not make the final cut of the film The following year he recorded a charting soul ballad In the Middle of the Night released with proceeds donated to victims of tornadoes that had caused damage in twelve states 98 Richard did no new recordings in 1974 although two new albums were released In the summer came a major surprise for fans Talkin bout Soul a collection of released and unreleased Vee Jay recordings all never before on a domestic LP Two were new to the world the title tune and You d Better Stop both uptempo Later that year came a set recorded in one night early the previous year called Right Now and featuring roots material including a vocal version of an unreleased Reprise instrumental Mississippi released in 1972 as Funky Dish Rag his third try at his gospel rock In the Name and a 6 minute plus rocker Hot Nuts based upon a 1936 song by Li l Johnson Get Em From The Peanut Man 1975 was a big year for Richard with a world tour and acclaim over high energy performances throughout England and France His band was perhaps his best to date He cut a top 40 single US and Canada with Bachman Turner Overdrive Take It Like a Man He worked on new songs with sideman Seabrun Candy Hunter He told Dee Jay Wolfman Jack that he planned on releasing a new album with Sly Stone but it never materialized In 1976 he decided to retire again physically and mentally exhausted having experienced family tragedy and the drug culture He was talked into once again recutting his greatest hits for Stan Shulman in Nashville This time they would not use new arrangements but original arrangements Richard re recorded eighteen of his classic rock and roll hits for K Tel Records in high tech stereo recreations with a single featuring the new versions of Good Golly Miss Molly and Rip It Up reaching the UK singles chart 99 Richard later admitted that he was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol By 1977 worn out from years of drug abuse and wild partying as well as a string of personal tragedies Richard quit rock and roll again and returned to evangelism releasing one gospel album God s Beautiful City in 1979 100 At the same time while touring once again as a minister and returning to talk shows a controversial album was released by the discount label Koala taken from a 1974 concert It includes an 11 minute discordant version of Good Golly Miss Molly The performances are widely panned as subpar and it has gained some notoriety amongst record collectors 1984 1999 Comeback Edit Little Richard holding a photograph of himself at a Best Buddies International event 1998 In 1984 Richard filed a 112 million lawsuit against Specialty Records Art Rupe and his publishing company Venice Music and ATV Music for not paying royalties to him after he left the label in 1959 101 The suit was settled out of court in 1986 102 According to some reports Michael Jackson allegedly gave him monetary compensation for his work which he co owned with Sony ATV songs by the Beatles and Richard 103 In September 1984 Charles White released the singer s authorized biography Quasar of Rock The Life and Times of Little Richard which returned Richard to the spotlight 104 Richard returned to show business in what Rolling Stone would refer to as a formidable comeback following the book s release 104 Reconciling his roles as evangelist and rock and roll musician for the first time Richard stated that the genre could be used for good or evil 105 After accepting a role in the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills Richard and Billy Preston penned the faith based rock and roll song Great Gosh A Mighty for its soundtrack 105 Richard won critical acclaim for his film role and the song found success on the American and British charts 105 The hit led to the release of the album Lifetime Friend 1986 on Warner Bros Records with songs deemed messages in rhythm including a gospel rap track 106 In addition to a version of Great Gosh A Mighty cut in England the album featured two singles that charted in the UK Somebody s Comin and Operator Richard spent much of the rest of the decade as a guest on television shows and appearing in films winning new fans with what was referred to as his unique comedic timing 107 In 1988 he surprised fans with a serious tribute to Otis Redding at his Rock and Roll of Fame induction ceremony singing several Redding songs including Fa Fa Fa sad song These arms of mine and Dock of the Bay He told Otis story and explained how his 1956 tune All Around the World was Redding s reference on his 1963 side Hey Hey Baby In 1989 Richard provided rhythmic preaching and background vocals on the extended live version of the U2 B B King hit When Love Comes to Town That same year Richard returned to singing his classic hits following a performance of Lucille at an AIDS benefit concert 108 President Bill Clinton greets Little Richard at the White House in 1994 In 1990 Richard contributed a spoken word rap on Living Colour s hit song Elvis Is Dead from their album Time s Up 109 110 That same year he appeared in a cameo for the music video of Cinderella s Shelter Me In 1991 he was one of the featured performers on the hit single and video Voices That Care that was produced to help boost the morale of U S troops involved in Operation Desert Storm The same year he recorded a version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation benefit album For Our Children The album s success led to a deal with Walt Disney Records resulting in the release of a hit 1992 children s album Shake It All About In 1994 Richard sang the theme song to the award winning PBS Kids and TLC animated television series The Magic School Bus based on the book series created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen and published by Scholastic Corporation He also opened Wrestlemania X from Madison Square Garden on March 20 that year miming to his reworked rendition of America the Beautiful Throughout the 1990s Richard performed around the world and appeared on TV film and tracks with other artists including Jon Bon Jovi Elton John and Solomon Burke In 1992 he released his final album Little Richard Meets Masayoshi Takanaka featuring members of Richard s then current touring band 111 2000 2020 Later years Edit Little Richard in 2007 In 2000 Richard s life was dramatized for the biographical film Little Richard which focused on his early years including his heyday his religious conversion and his return to secular music in the early 1960s Richard was played by Leon Robinson who earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his performance In 2002 Richard contributed to the Johnny Cash tribute album Kindred Spirits A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash In 2004 2005 he released two sets of unreleased and rare cuts from the Okeh label 1966 67 and the Reprise label 1970 72 Included was the full Southern Child album produced and composed mostly by Richard scheduled for release in 1972 but shelved In 2006 Little Richard was featured in a popular advertisement for the GEICO brand 112 A 2005 recording of his duet vocals with Jerry Lee Lewis on a cover of the Beatles I Saw Her Standing There was included on Lewis s 2006 album Last Man Standing The same year Richard was a guest judge on the TV series Celebrity Duets Richard and Lewis performed alongside John Fogerty at the 2008 Grammy Awards in a tribute to the two artists considered to be cornerstones of rock and roll by the NARAS That same year Richard appeared on radio host Don Imus benefit album for sick children The Imus Ranch Record 113 In June 2010 Richard recorded a gospel track for an upcoming tribute album to songwriting legend Dottie Rambo In 2009 Richard was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame in a concert in New Orleans attended by Fats Domino Throughout the first decade of the new millennium Richard kept up a stringent touring schedule performing primarily in the United States and Europe However sciatic nerve pain in his left leg and then replacement of the involved hip began affecting the frequency of his performances by 2010 Despite his health problems Richard continued to perform to receptive audiences and critics Rolling Stone reported that at a performance at the Howard Theater in Washington D C in June 2012 Richard was still full of fire still a master showman his voice still loaded with deep gospel and raunchy power 114 Richard performed a full 90 minute show at the Pensacola Interstate Fair in Pensacola Florida in October 2012 at the age of 79 and headlined at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas during Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend in March 2013 115 116 In September 2013 Rolling Stone published an interview with Richard who said that he would be retiring from performing I am done in a sense because I don t feel like doing anything right now he told the magazine adding I think my legacy should be that when I started in showbusiness there wasn t no such thing as rock n roll When I started with Tutti Frutti that s when rock really started rocking 117 Richard would perform one last concert in Murfreesboro Tennessee in 2014 118 In June 2015 Richard appeared before a benefit concert audience clad in sparkly boots and a brightly colored jacket at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville to receive the Rhapsody amp Rhythm Award from and raise funds for the National Museum of African American Music It was reported that he charmed the crowd by reminiscing about his early days working in Nashville nightclubs 119 120 In May 2016 the National Museum of African American Music issued a press release indicating that Richard was one of the key artists and music industry leaders that attended its third annual Celebration of Legends Luncheon in Nashville honoring Shirley Caesar Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff with Rhapsody amp Rhythm Awards 121 In 2016 a new CD was released on Hitman Records California I m Comin with released and previously unreleased material from the 1970s including an a cappella version of his 1975 single release Try to Help Your Brother On September 6 2017 Richard participated in a long television interview for the Christian Three Angels Broadcasting Network appearing in a wheelchair clean shaven without make up dressed in a blue paisley coat and tie where he discussed his lifelong Christian faith 122 On October 23 2019 Richard addressed the audience after appearing to receive the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor s Arts Awards at the Governor s Residence in Nashville Tennessee 123 124 Personal life EditRelationships and family Edit Around 1956 Richard became involved with Audrey Robinson a sixteen year old college student originally from Savannah Georgia 108 125 Richard and Robinson quickly got acquainted despite Robinson not being a fan of rock and roll music Richard said in his 1984 autobiography that he invited other men to have sexual encounters with her including Buddy Holly Robinson denied those statements 108 126 Richard proposed marriage to Robinson but she refused Robinson later became known under the name Lee Angel as a stripper and socialite 127 Richard reconnected with Robinson in the 1960s though she left him again after his drug abuse worsened 108 Robinson was interviewed for Richard s 1985 documentary on The South Bank Show and denied Richard s statements According to Robinson Richard would use her to buy food in white only fast food stores as he could not enter any due to the color of his skin Richard met his only wife Ernestine Harvin at an evangelical rally in October 1957 They began dating that year and wed on July 12 1959 in California According to Harvin she and Richard initially enjoyed a happy marriage with normal sexual relations When the marriage ended in divorce in 1964 Harvin said it was due to her husband s celebrity status which had made life difficult for her Richard said the marriage fell apart due to his being a neglectful husband and because of his sexuality 128 Both Robinson and Harvin denied Richard s statements that he was gay and Richard believed they did not know it because he was such a pumper in those days 128 During the marriage Richard and Harvin adopted a one year old boy Danny Jones from a late church associate 108 Richard and his son remained close with Jones often acting as one of his bodyguards 129 Harvin later married Mcdonald Campbell in Santa Barbara California on March 23 1975 citation needed Sexuality Edit In 1984 Richard said that he just played with girls as a child and was subjected to homosexual jokes and ridicule because of his manner of walking and talking 130 His father brutally punished him whenever he caught him wearing his mother s makeup and clothing 131 The singer said he had been sexually involved with both sexes as a teenager 132 Because of his effeminate mannerisms his father kicked him out of their family home when he was fifteen 4 In 1985 on The South Bank Show Richard explained my daddy put me out of the house He said he wanted seven boys and I had spoiled it because I was gay 108 Richard got involved in voyeurism in his early twenties A female friend would drive him around picking up men who would allow him to watch them having sex in the backseat of cars Richard s activity caught the attention of Macon police in 1955 and he was arrested after a gas station attendant reported sexual activity in a car Richard was occupying with a heterosexual couple Cited on a sexual misconduct charge he spent three days in jail and was temporarily banned from performing in Macon 133 In the early 1950s Richard became acquainted with openly gay musician Billy Wright who helped in establishing Richard s look advising him to use pancake makeup on his face and wear his hair in a long haired pompadour style similar to his 30 As Richard got used to the makeup he ordered his band the Upsetters to wear makeup too in order to gain entry into predominantly white venues He later stated I wore the make up so that white men wouldn t think I was after the white girls It made things easier for me plus it was colorful too 134 In 2000 Richard told Jet magazine I figure if being called a sissy would make me famous let them say what they want to 131 Richard s look however still attracted female audiences who would send him naked photos and their phone numbers 135 136 Groupies began throwing undergarments at Richard during performances 137 138 During Richard s heyday his obsession with voyeurism and group sex continued his girlfriend Audrey Robinson participating Richard wrote that Robinson would have sex with men while she sexually stimulated Richard 139 Despite saying he was born again after leaving rock and roll for the church in 1957 Richard left Oakwood College after exposing himself to a male student The incident was reported to the student s father and Richard withdrew from the college 140 In 1962 Richard was arrested for spying on men urinating in toilets at a Trailways bus station in Long Beach California 141 He participated in orgies and continued to be a voyeur On May 4 1982 on Late Night with David Letterman Richard said God gave me the victory I m not gay now but you know I was gay all my life I believe I was one of the first gay people to come out But God let me know that he made Adam be with Eve not Steve So I gave my heart to Christ 142 In his 1984 book while demeaning homosexuality as unnatural and contagious he told Charles White he was omnisexual 108 In 1995 Richard told Penthouse that he always knew he was gay saying I ve been gay all my life 108 In 2007 Mojo Magazine referred to Richard as bisexual 143 In October 2017 Richard once again denounced homosexuality in an interview with the Christian Three Angels Broadcasting Network calling homosexual and transgender identity unnatural affection that goes against the way God wants you to live 144 Drug use Edit During his initial heyday in the 1950s rock and roll scene Richard was a teetotaler abstaining from alcohol cigarettes and drugs Richard often fined bandmates for drug and alcohol use during this era By the mid 1960s however Richard began drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and smoking cigarettes and marijuana 145 By 1972 he had developed an addiction to cocaine He later lamented that period They should have called me Lil Cocaine I was sniffing so much of that stuff 146 By 1975 he had developed addictions to both heroin and PCP otherwise known as angel dust His drug and alcohol use began to affect his professional career and personal life I lost my reasoning he later recalled 147 Of his cocaine addiction he said that he did whatever he could to use cocaine 148 Richard admitted that his addictions to cocaine PCP and heroin were costing him as much as 1 000 a day 149 In 1977 longtime friend Larry Williams once showed up with a gun and threatened to kill him for failing to pay his drug debt Richard said that this was the most fearful moment of his life Williams own drug addiction made him wildly unpredictable Richard did acknowledge that he and Williams were very close friends and when reminiscing of the drug fueled clash he recalled thinking I knew he loved me I hoped he did 150 Within that same year Richard had several devastating personal experiences including his brother Tony s death of a heart attack the accidental shooting of his nephew whom he loved like a son and the murder of two close personal friends one a valet at the heroin man s house 149 These experiences convinced the singer to give up drugs and alcohol along with rock and roll and return to the ministry 151 Religion Edit Richard s family had deep evangelical Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal Church AME Christian roots including two uncles and a grandfather who were preachers 13 He also took part in Macon s Pentecostal churches which were his favorites mainly due to their music charismatic praise dancing in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues 10 At age ten influenced by Pentecostalism he would go around saying he was a faith healer singing gospel music to people who were feeling sick and touching them He later recalled that they would often indicate that they felt better after he prayed for them and would sometimes give him money 10 Richard had aspirations of being a preacher due to the influence of singing evangelist Brother Joe May 13 After he was born again in 1957 Richard enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville Alabama a mostly black Seventh day Adventist SDA college to study theology It was also at this time that he became a vegetarian which coincided with his return to religion 152 153 154 Richard returned to secular music in the early 1960s He was eventually ordained a minister in 1970 and resumed evangelical activities in 1977 Richard represented Memorial Bibles International and sold their Black Heritage Bible which highlighted the Book s many black characters As a preacher he evangelized in small churches and packed auditoriums of 20 000 or more His preaching focused on uniting the races and bringing lost souls to repentance through God s love 155 In 1984 Richard s mother Leva Mae died following a period of illness Only a few months prior to her death Richard promised her that he would remain a Christian 105 During the 1980s and 1990s Richard officiated at celebrity weddings In 2006 in one ceremony Richard wedded twenty couples who won a contest 156 The musician used his experience and knowledge as a minister and elder statesman of rock and roll to preach at funerals of musical friends such as Wilson Pickett and Ike Turner 157 At a benefit concert in 2009 to raise funds to help rebuild children s playgrounds that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina Richard asked guest of honor Fats Domino to pray with him and others His assistants handed out inspirational booklets at the concert a common practice at Richard s shows 158 Richard told a Howard Theatre Washington D C audience in June 2012 I know this is not Church but get close to the Lord The world is getting close to the end Get close to the Lord 114 In 2013 Richard elaborated on his spiritual philosophies stating God talked to me the other night He said He s getting ready to come The world s getting ready to end and He s coming wrapped in flames of fire with a rainbow around his throne Rolling Stone reported that his apocalyptic prophesies generated snickers from some audience members as well as cheers of support Richard responded to the laughter by stating When I talk to you about Jesus I m not playing I m almost 81 years old Without God I wouldn t be here 159 In 1986 it was reported that Richard converted to Judaism at the encouragement of Bob Dylan but Richard saw Judaism as not contradicting his other beliefs 160 161 162 In 2017 Richard returned to his SDA spiritual roots and appeared in a lengthy televised interview on 3ABN and later he shared his personal testimony at 3ABN Fall Camp Meeting 2017 163 164 165 Health problems and death Edit In October 1985 having finished his album Lifetime Friend Richard returned from England to film a guest spot on the show Miami Vice Following the taping he accidentally crashed his sports car into a telephone pole in West Hollywood California He suffered a broken right leg broken ribs and head and facial injuries 166 His recovery from the accident took several months 166 preventing him from attending the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in January 1986 where he was one of several inductees He instead supplied a recorded message 88 In 2007 Richard began having problems walking due to sciatica in his left leg requiring him to use crutches 167 168 In November 2009 he entered a hospital to have replacement surgery on his left hip Despite returning to performing the following year Richard s problems with his hip continued and he was brought onstage in a wheelchair only being able to play sitting down 169 On September 30 2013 he revealed to CeeLo Green at a Recording Academy fundraiser that he had suffered a heart attack the week before at home Taking aspirin and having his son turn on the air conditioner saved his life according to his doctor Richard stated Jesus had something for me He brought me through 159 On April 28 2016 Richard s friend Bootsy Collins stated on his Facebook page that he is not in the best of health so I ask all the Funkateers to lift him up Reports began being posted on the internet stating that Richard was in grave health and that his family were gathering at his bedside On May 3 2016 Rolling Stone provided a health update by Richard and his lawyer Richard stated not only is my family not gathering around me because I m ill but I m still singing I don t perform like I used to but I have my singing voice I walk around I had hip surgery a while ago but I m healthy His lawyer said He s 83 I don t know how many 83 year olds still get up and rock it out every week but in light of the rumors I wanted to tell you that he s vivacious and conversant about a ton of different things and he s still very active in a daily routine 170 Though Richard continued to sing in his eighties he kept away from the stage 171 On May 9 2020 after a two month illness Richard died at the age of 87 at his home in Tullahoma Tennessee 2 from a cause related to bone cancer 172 2 173 His brother sister and son were with him at the time 174 175 176 Richard received tributes from many popular musicians including Bob Dylan 177 Paul McCartney 178 Mick Jagger 179 John Fogerty 180 Elton John 181 and Lenny Kravitz 182 as well as many others such as film director John Waters 183 who were influenced by Richard s music and persona He is interred at Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville Alabama 184 Legacy EditMusic Edit He claims to be the architect of rock and roll and history would seem to bear out Little Richard s boast More than any other performer save perhaps Elvis Presley Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona On record he made spine tingling rock and roll His frantically charged piano playing and raspy shouted vocals on such classics as Tutti Frutti Long Tall Sally and Good Golly Miss Molly defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 88 Richard was nicknamed the Architect of Rock and Roll 185 His music and performance style had a pivotal effect on the shape of the sound and style of popular music genres of the 20th century 34 44 186 As a rock and roll pioneer Richard embodied its spirit more flamboyantly than any other performer 187 Richard s raspy shouting style gave the genre one of its most identifiable and influential vocal sounds and his fusion of boogie woogie New Orleans R amp B and gospel music blazed its rhythmic trail 187 188 Richard s innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres including soul and funk respectively 189 He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come 190 191 192 Combining elements of boogie gospel and blues Richard introduced several of rock music s most characteristic musical features including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power and its distinctive beat and innovative visceral rhythms 193 He departed from boogie woogie s shuffle rhythm and introduced a new distinctive rock beat where the beat division is even at all tempos He reinforced the new rock rhythm with a two handed approach playing patterns with his right hand with the rhythm typically popping out in the piano s high register His new rhythm which he introduced with Tutti Frutti 1955 became the basis for the standard rock beat which was later consolidated by Chuck Berry 194 Lucille 1957 foreshadowed the rhythmic feel of 1960s classic rock in several ways including its heavy bassline slower tempo strong rock beat played by the entire band and verse chorus form similar to blues 195 Little Richard in concert Richard s voice was able to generate croons wails and screams unprecedented in popular music 34 He was cited by two of soul music s pioneers Otis Redding and Sam Cooke as contributing to the genre s early development Redding stated that most of his music was patterned after Richard s referring to his 1953 recording Directly From My Heart To You as the personification of soul and that he had done a lot for him and his soul brothers in the music business 196 Cooke said in 1962 that Richard had done so much for our music 197 Cooke had a top 40 hit in 1963 with his cover of Richard s 1956 hit Send Me Some Loving 198 James Brown and others credited Richard and his mid 1950s backing band The Upsetters with having been the first to put the funk in the rock beat This innovation sparked the transition from 1950s rock and roll to 1960s funk 88 199 200 201 Richard s hits of the mid 1950s such as Tutti Frutti Long Tall Sally Keep A Knockin and Good Golly Miss Molly were generally characterized by playful lyrics with sexually suggestive connotations 34 AllMusic writer Richie Unterberger stated that Little Richard merged the fire of gospel with New Orleans R amp B pounding the piano and wailing with gleeful abandon and that while other R amp B greats of the early 1950s had been moving in a similar direction none of them matched the sheer electricity of Richard s vocals With his high speed deliveries ecstatic trills and the overjoyed force of personality in his singing he was crucial in upping the voltage from high powered R amp B into the similar yet different guise of rock and roll 44 Due to his innovative music and style he s often widely acknowledged as the architect of rock and roll 88 Emphasizing the folk influences of Richard English professor W T Lhamon Jr wrote His songs were literally good booty They were the repressed stuff of underground lore And in Little Richard they found a vehicle prepared to bear their chocked energy at least for his capsulated moment 202 Ray Charles introduced him at a concert in 1988 as a man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what s happening today 203 Richard s contemporaries including Elvis Presley Buddy Holly Bill Haley Jerry Lee Lewis Pat Boone the Everly Brothers Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran all recorded covers of his works 204 As they wrote about him for their Man of the Year Legend category in 2010 GQ magazine stated that Richard is without question the boldest and most influential of the founding fathers of rock n roll 108 Society Edit In addition to his musical style Richard was cited as one of the first crossover black artists reaching audiences of all races His music and concerts broke the color line 205 drawing blacks and whites together despite attempts to sustain segregation As H B Barnum explained in Quasar of Rock Little Richard opened the door He brought the races together 206 Barnum described Richard s music as not being boy meets girl girl meets boy things they were fun records all fun And they had a lot to say sociologically in our country and the world 53 Barnum also stated that Richard s charisma was a whole new thing to the music business explaining that he would burst onto the stage from anywhere and you wouldn t be able to hear anything but the roar of the audience He might come out and walk on the piano He might go out into the audience Barnum also stated that Richard was innovative in that he would wear colorful capes blouse shirts makeup and suits studded with multi colored stones and sequins and that he also brought flickering stage lighting from his show business experience into performance venues where rock and roll artists performed 207 In 2015 the National Museum of African American Music honored Richard for helping to shatter the color line on the music charts changing American culture forever 120 205 Ian Lemmy Kilmister of the heavy metal band Motorhead spoke highly of Penniman stating Little Richard was always my main man How hard must it have been for him gay black and singing in the South But his records are a joyous good time from beginning to end 208 Influence Edit Richard influenced generations of performers across musical genres 57 209 Quincy Jones stated that Richard was an innovator whose influence spans America s musical diaspora from Gospel the Blues amp R amp B to Rock amp Roll amp Hip Hop 210 James Brown and Otis Redding both idolized him 196 211 Brown allegedly came up with the Famous Flames debut hit Please Please Please after Richard had written the words on a napkin 212 213 Redding started his professional career with Richard s band The Upsetters 214 and first entered a talent show performing Richard s Heeby Jeebies winning for fifteen consecutive weeks 215 Ike Turner claimed most of Tina Turner s early vocal delivery was based on Richard something Richard reiterated in the introduction of Turner s autobiography Takin Back My Name 216 Bob Dylan first performed covers of Richard s songs on piano in high school with his rock and roll group the Golden Chords in 1959 when leaving school he wrote in his yearbook under Ambition to join Little Richard 217 Jimi Hendrix was influenced in appearance clothing and hairstyle mustache and sound by Richard He was quoted in 1966 saying I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice 218 Others influenced by Richard early on in their lives included Bob Seger and John Fogerty 219 220 Michael Jackson admitted that Richard had been a huge influence on him prior to the release of Off the Wall 221 Rock critics noted similarities between Prince s androgynous look music and vocal style and Richard s 222 223 224 The origins of Cliff Richard s name change from Harry Webb was seen as a partial tribute to his musical hero Richard and singer Rick Richards 225 The members of the Beatles were heavily influenced by Richard including Paul McCartney and George Harrison McCartney idolized him in school and later used his recordings as inspiration for his uptempo rockers such as I m Down 226 227 Long Tall Sally was the first song McCartney performed in public 228 McCartney would later state I could do Little Richard s voice which is a wild hoarse screaming thing It s like an out of body experience You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it 229 During the Beatles Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction Harrison commented thank you all very much especially the rock n rollers an Little Richard there if it wasn t for gesturing to Little Richard it was all his fault really 230 Upon hearing Long Tall Sally in 1956 John Lennon later commented that he was so impressed that he couldn t speak 231 Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were also profoundly influenced by Richard with Jagger citing him as his introduction to R amp B music and referring to him as the originator and my first idol 76 Late 1960s hard rock and heavy metal pioneer John Kay of Steppenwolf as a young teen who did not understand the English language in East Prussia in the mid 1950s was first inspired by rock n roll music upon hearing Little Richard s Tutti Frutti on a U S Armed Forces station on a homemade radio in 1956 Kay would later state it was unlike anything I ever heard before and it was instant chicken skin time I mean goosebumps from head to toe From that time on my focus was to hear as much of that stuff as possible and after a while it became a kind of adolescent dream that someday I would be on the other side of the ocean would learn how to speak English and this music is something that I would play 232 233 234 Richard was also influential on the music of Ritchie Valens before he rose to fame he was known as the Little Richard of San Fernando Richard was also the first rock n roll influence on Rod Stewart Peter Wolf and Robert Plant Plant was not interested in listening to music until he heard Little Richard on record later stating I was a 13 year old boy in Kidderminster when I heard Little Richard for the first time My parents shielded me from anything that was worldly I spent my time searching feverishly through my stamp collection or working on my Meccano and then someone played me Good Golly Miss Molly The sound It was fantastic indescribable 235 236 237 David Bowie called Richard his inspiration stating upon listening to Tutti Frutti that he heard God 238 239 After opening for him with his band Bluesology pianist Reginald Dwight was inspired to be a rock and roll piano player later changing his name to Elton John 240 Farrokh Bulsara performed covers of Richard s songs as a teen before finding fame as Freddie Mercury frontman for Queen 241 Lou Reed referred to Richard as his rock and roll hero deriving inspiration from the soulful primal force of the sound Richard and his saxophonist made on Long Tall Sally Reed later stated I don t know why and I don t care but I wanted to go to wherever that sound was and make a life 242 Patti Smith said To me Little Richard was a person that was able to focus a certain physical anarchistic and spiritual energy into a form which we call rock n roll I understood it as something that had to do with my future When I was a little girl Santa Claus didn t turn me on Easter Bunny didn t turn me on God turned me on Little Richard turned me on 243 The music of Deep Purple and Motorhead was also heavily influenced by Richard as well as that of AC DC 244 245 The latter s early lead vocalist and co songwriter Bon Scott idolized Richard and aspired to sing like him its lead guitarist and co songwriter Angus Young was first inspired to play guitar after listening to Richard s music and rhythm guitarist and co writer Malcolm Young derived his signature sound from playing his guitar like Richard s piano 246 247 248 249 244 245 Later performers such as Mystikal Andre 3000 Benjamin of Outkast and Bruno Mars were cited by critics as having emulated Richard s style in their own works Mystikal s rap vocal delivery was compared to Richard s 250 Andre 3000 s vocals in Outkast s hit Hey Ya were compared to an indie rock Little Richard 251 Bruno Mars declared that Richard was one of his and his performer father s primary early influences 252 253 254 Mars song Runaway Baby from his album Doo Wops amp Hooligans was cited by The New York Times as channeling Little Richard 255 Prior to his death in 2017 Audioslave s and Soundgarden s frontman Chris Cornell traced his musical influences back to Richard via the Beatles 256 Honors Edit Little Richard interviewed during the 60th Annual Academy Awards 1988 In the early 1990s a portion of Mercer University Drive between Telfair and College Streets in Macon Georgia was renamed Little Richard Penniman Boulevard 257 Just south of the easternmost portion of the renamed boulevard lies Little Richard Penniman Park In 2007 an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists voted Tutti Frutti number one on Mojo s The Top 100 Records That Changed The World hailing the recording as the sound of the birth of rock and roll 258 259 In April 2012 Rolling Stone magazine declared that the song still has the most inspired rock lyric on record 260 The same recording was inducted to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2010 with the library claiming the unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music 261 In 2010 Time magazine listed Here s Little Richard as one of the 100 Greatest and Most Influential Albums of All Time 63 Rolling Stone listed his Here s Little Richard at number fifty on the magazine s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 262 He was ranked eighth on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time 263 Rolling Stone listed three of Richard s recordings The Girl Can t Help It Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 264 Two of the latter songs and Good Golly Miss Molly were listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll 265 The UK issue of GQ named Richard its Man of the Year in its Legend category in 2010 108 Richard appeared in person to receive an honorary degree from his hometown s Mercer University in May 2013 266 The day before the doctorate of humanities degree was to be bestowed upon him the mayor of Macon announced that one of Richard s childhood homes an historic site would be moved to a rejuvenated section of that city s Pleasant Hill district to be restored and named the Little Richard Penniman Pleasant Hill Resource House It would serve as a meeting place where local history and artifacts provided by will be displayed 267 268 269 In early 2019 Maggie Gonzalez a resident of Macon Georgia began an online campaign proposing that a statue of Richard be erected in downtown Macon taking the place of a Confederate memorial that currently occupies the space Georgia law forbids the tearing down of Confederate statues though they can be relocated Gonzalez has proposed that it could be moved to nearby Rose Hill Cemetery 270 On March 14 2021 Bruno Mars with Anderson Paak performed at the 2021 Grammy Award ceremony to honor Little Richard The performance was reported in the media to be the highlight of the show 271 272 Awards Edit Although Richard never won a competitive Grammy his classic run of hits ended before the Grammys commenced he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 273 His album Here s Little Richard and three of his songs Tutti Frutti Lucille and Long Tall Sally are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame 274 Richard received various awards for his key role in the formation of popular music genres 1956 He received the Cashbox Triple Crown Award for Long Tall Sally in 1956 275 1984 He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame 1986 He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the initial class of inductees chosen for that honor 88 1990 He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 1994 He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation 276 1997 He received the American Music Award of Merit 277 2002 Along with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley he was honored as one of the first group of BMI icons at the 50th Annual BMI Pop Awards 278 2002 He was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame 279 2003 He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame 2006 He was inducted into the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame 280 2008 He received a star on Nashville s Music City Walk of Fame 281 2009 He was inducted to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame 282 2010 He received a plaque on the theater s Walk of Fame 283 2015 He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame 284 2015 He was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame 285 2015 He received the Rhapsody amp Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music 205 120 2019 He received the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor s Arts Awards 124 123 In popular culture EditIn 2000 Leon portrayed Little Richard in the NBC television biopic Little Richard directed by Robert Townsend In 2014 actor Brandon Mychal Smith received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Richard in the James Brown biographical drama film Get on Up 286 287 288 Mick Jagger co produced the motion picture 289 290 During season 7 of RuPaul s Drag Race contestant Kennedy Davenport portrayed Richard during the Snatch Game episode making him the first male character ever impersonated for the challenge Davenport would later go on to win the challenge alongside fellow contestant Ginger Minj for her impersonation of Adele In 2022 Alton Mason portrayed Little Richard in the movie biopic Elvis directed by Baz Luhrmann 291 Discography EditMain article Little Richard discography Main albumsHere s Little Richard 1957 Little Richard 1958 The Fabulous Little Richard 1958 Pray Along with Little Richard 1960 Pray Along with Little Richard Vol 2 1960 The King of the Gospel Singers 1962 Little Richard Is Back And There s A Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On 1964 Little Richard s Greatest Hits 1965 The Incredible Little Richard Sings His Greatest Hits Live 1967 live The Wild and Frantic Little Richard 1967 compilation The Explosive Little Richard 1967 Little Richard s Greatest Hits Recorded Live 1967 live The Rill Thing 1970 Mr Big 1971 compilation The King of Rock and Roll 1971 Friends from the Beginning Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix 1972 compilation The Second Coming 1972 Right Now 1974 Talkin bout Soul 1974 compilation Little Richard Live 1976 studio re recreations of Specialty tracks God s Beautiful City 1979 Lifetime Friend 1986 Shake It All About 1992 Little Richard Meets Masayoshi Takanaka 1992 Southern Child 2005 recorded in 1972 Filmography EditThe Girl Can t Help It 292 1956 lip syncing the title number different version from record Ready Teddy and She s Got It Don t Knock the Rock 292 1956 lip syncing Long Tall Sally and Tutti Frutti Mister Rock and Roll 292 1957 lip syncing Lucille and Keep A Knockin on original prints Catalina Caper 292 a k a Never Steal Anything Wet 1967 Richard lip syncs an original tune Scuba Party still unreleased on record by 2019 Little Richard Live at the Toronto Peace Festival 292 1969 released on DVD in 2009 by Shout Factory The London Rock amp Roll Show 292 1973 performing Lucille Rip It Up Good Golly Miss Molly Tutti Frutti I Believe a capella a few lines and Jenny Jenny Jimi Hendrix 292 1973 Down and Out in Beverly Hills 292 1986 co starred as Orvis Goodnight and performed the production number Great Gosh A Mighty Hail Hail Rock n Roll TV Documentary 1987 Goddess of Love Made For TV Movie 1988 Purple People Eater 292 1988 Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills 1989 uncredited Bill amp Ted s Excellent Adventures 1990 voice Mother Goose Rock n Rhyme 1990 Blossom S1E5 1991 Columbo S10E3 Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star 1991 Cameo The Naked Truth 292 1992 Sunset Heat 292 aka Midnight Heat 1992 James Brown The Man The Message The Music TV Documentary 1992 Martin S1E12 Three Men and a Mouse as The Exterminator 1992 The Pickle 292 1993 Last Action Hero 292 1993 Full House 1994 Cameo Episode Too Little Richard Too Late Baywatch 292 1995 as Maurice in Episode The Runaways The Drew Carey Show 1997 cameo Episode Drewstock Why Do Fools Fall in Love 1998 Muppets Tonight 1998 Episode The Cameo Show Mystery Alaska 1999 The Trumpet of the Swan 2001 voice The Simpsons 2002 voice Let the Good Times Roll 1973 featured performances and behind the scenes candid footage of Little Richard Chuck Berry Bo Diddley Fats Domino Bill Haley the Five Satins the Shirelles Chubby Checker and Danny and the Juniors 293 References EditCitations Edit Eagle Bob LeBlanc Eric S 2013 Blues A Regional Experience Santa Barbara Praeger Publishers p 275 ISBN 978 0313344237 a b c Weiner Tim May 9 2020 Little Richard Flamboyant Wild Man of Rock n Roll Dies at 87 The New York Times a b Kirby 2009 p 30 a b White 2003 p 21 a b White 2003 p 3 White 2003 pp 4 5 Otfinoski 2010 p 144 White 2003 p 7 White 2003 p 6 a b c White 2003 pp 16 17 White 2003 pp 7 9 White 2003 p 8 a b c White 2003 p 16 a b White 2003 p 18 White 2003 pp 15 17 Ryan 2004 p 77 Pop Chronicles Interviews 71 Little Richard 1968 Seibert David Ballard Hudson Senior High School GeorgiaInfo an Online Georgia Almanac Digital Library of Georgia Retrieved November 7 2016 a b White 2003 p 17 Ruggieri Melissa March 12 2018 Sister Rosetta Tharpe Singer influenced key rock n roll figures The Atlanta Journal Constitution Lauterbach 2011 p 152 Turner Ike 1999 Takin Back My Name The Confessions of Ike Turner Cawthorne Nigel London Virgin pp xi ISBN 1852278501 OCLC 43321298 a b White 2003 pp 21 22 White 2003 p 22 It was the only song I knew that wasn t a church song Caldonia Louis Jordan 1945 Library of Congress PDF Library of Congress Simakis rea January 23 2015 Vintage photos Rock Hall inductee Louis Jordan is the music master behind Five Guys Named Moe The Plain Dealer White 2003 pp 22 25 White 2003 pp 22 23 White 2003 pp 24 25 a b White 2003 p 25 a b c White 2003 p 28 White 2003 p 29 White 2003 pp 36 38 a b c d e Winner Langdon C Little Richard American musician Britannica Online Encyclopedia Retrieved March 7 2013 Woods Baynard November 19 2019 Esquerita and the Voola Oxford American Retrieved May 9 2020 Browne David May 9 2020 Little Richard Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers Dead at 87 Rolling Stone Retrieved May 9 2020 a b White 2003 pp 38 39 Grady Gaines AllMusic Retrieved March 6 2013 Whiteside Jonny May 14 2014 Charles Connor The Rock and Roll Original LA Weekly White 2003 pp 40 41 Nite 1982 p 390 White 2003 pp 44 47 a b White 2003 pp 55 56 a b c d Little Richard Allmusic Retrieved March 6 2013 White 2003 p 264 Show 6 Hail Hail Rock n Roll The rock revolution gets underway Digital library unt edu March 16 1969 Retrieved September 18 2010 Du Noyer 2003 p 14 White 2003 p 58 White 2003 pp 74 75 Pegg 2002 p 50 Although they still had the audiences together in the building they were there together And most times before the end of the night they would be all mixed together White 2003 pp 82 83 Bayles 1996 p 133 He d be on the stage he d be off the stage he d be jumping and yelling screaming whipping the audience on a b White 2003 p 70 a b White 2003 p 66 White 2003 pp 83 84 White 2003 p 80 a b Myers Marc October 10 2010 Little Richard The First The Wall Street Journal Retrieved September 29 2011 White 2003 p 241 White 2003 pp 264 265 12th Annual Cavalcade of Jazz starring Little Richard Los Angeles Sentinel August 9 1956 Stars Galore Set for Sept Jazz Festival The California Eagle August 23 1956 White 2003 pp 82 a b Light Alan January 27 2010 Here s Little Richard All TIME 100 Albums Time Retrieved January 17 2017 a b White 2003 pp 89 92 a b White 2003 p 91 White 2003 p 92 White 2003 p 95 Miller 1996 p 248 White 2003 pp 88 89 White 2003 pp 95 97 White 2003 pp 94 95 White 2003 p 97 White 2003 p 102 Richard had such a unique voice and style that no one has ever matched it even to this day White 2003 p 103 He sang gospel the way it should be sung He had that primitive beat and sound that came so naturally the soul in his singing was not faked It was real White 2003 p 267 a b White 2003 p 119 White 2003 p 112 Winn 2008 p 12 Steen Hakan March 26 2018 Hakan Steen Tack sa mycket for liret Jerka Hakan Steen Thanks so much for the jive Jenka Aftonbladet Retrieved March 28 2018 a b Harry 2000 p 600 White 2003 p 121 White 2003 p 248 McDermott 2009 p 13 Havers Richard Evans Richard 2010 The Golden Age of Rock N Roll Chartwell Books p 126 ISBN 978 0785826255 McDermott 2009 p 12 Hendrix recording with Penniman Shadwick 2003 pp 56 57 I Don t Know What You Got But It s Got Me recorded in New York City Shadwick 2003 p 57 Shadwick 2003 pp 56 60 a b c d e f Little Richard The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1986 Retrieved March 6 2013 White 2003 pp 253 255 White 2003 pp 268 269 Dalton David May 28 1970 Little Richard Child of God Rolling Stone Retrieved August 12 2020 Religion and Rock and Roll Joel Martin Show WBAB 102 3 FM NY Guests Harry Hepcat and Little Richard August 16 1981 Gulla 2008 p 41 White 2003 p 132 White 2003 p 133 Gulla 2008 pp 41 42 White 2003 p 168 New York Beat Jet Vol 44 no 15 Johnson Publishing Company July 5 1973 p 62 Betts Graham 2004 Complete UK Hit Singles 1952 2004 1st ed London Collins p 457 ISBN 978 0 00 717931 2 White 2003 p 201 Little Richard Files Suit To Claim Lost Royalties Ocala Star Banner August 17 1984 p 2 Retrieved January 4 2013 Inside Track Billboard Vol 98 no 20 May 17 1986 p 84 Michael Jackson s mom played role in business Entertainment Celebrities Today Associated Press August 5 2009 Retrieved December 28 2012 a b Little Richard Biography Rolling Stone Archived from the original on May 29 2011 Retrieved March 7 2013 a b c d White 2003 p 221 White 2003 p 273 Little Richard at IMDb a b c d e f g h i j Chalmers 2012 Mahon 2004 p 151 Rodman 1996 p 46 Little Richard denies claims of poor health The Guardian May 4 2016 Retrieved October 26 2017 The Unlikely Titan of Advertising CBS News February 14 2007 Steinberg Jacques September 10 2008 Singers Aid a Charity and The Man Who Runs It The New York Times a b Doyle Patrick June 17 2012 Little Richard Tears Through Raucous Set in Washington D C Music News Rolling Stone Retrieved March 2 2013 Little Richard in concert GoPensacola com October 28 2012 Archived from the original on December 3 2013 Retrieved April 14 2013 Photos Little Richard headlines at Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend at The Orleans Las Vegas Sun April 1 2013 Archived from the original on December 2 2013 Retrieved April 2 2013 Strauss Neil September 12 2013 Little Richard s Long Goodbye Rolling Stone Retrieved May 9 2020 Knott Lucky May 10 2020 Music Icon Little Richard Died in His Sleep on Saturday in Tullahoma On Target News com Nashville s African American Music Museum To Honor Little Richard CeCe Winans MusicRow Nashville s Music Industry Publication News Songs From Music City Musicrow com June 17 2015 Retrieved August 17 2015 a b c Thanki Juli June 19 2015 Little Richard Cece Winans more honored in Nashville The Tennessean Retrieved September 5 2019 NMAAM Hosted Successful 2016 My Music Matters A Celebration of Legends Luncheon National Museum of African American Music May 11 2016 Archived from the original on September 6 2017 Retrieved September 5 2017 3 Angels Broadcasting Network Little Richard 2017 September 6 2017 a b 2019 Tennessee Governor s Arts Awards Knoxnews com October 24 2019 Retrieved April 22 2020 a b Bobby Karl Works The Room The Tennessee Governor s Arts Awards MusicRow October 25 2019 Archived from the original on October 27 2019 Retrieved October 27 2019 White 2003 pp 70 74 White 2003 pp 84 85 White 2003 pp 99 101 a b White 2003 p 105 Merchant Christopher August 28 2014 Little Richard s Cadillac struck in Murfreesboro crash The Tennessean Retrieved September 5 2019 White 2003 p 9 a b Life Story of Rock n Roll Legend Little Richard Told in NBC Movie Jet Vol 97 no 11 Johnson Publishing Company February 2000 pp 63 65 White 2003 p 10 White 2003 p 41 Collier 1984 p 60 White 2003 p 70 71 Gulla 2008 p 36 Ramsey David December 11 2015 Prayers for Richard Oxford American Little Rock AR Retrieved May 9 2020 Or offer up their own a Little Richard concert in Baltimore in 1956 is supposedly the first incident of female fans throwing their underwear onstage a shower of panties a bandmate remembered White 1984 p 66 Charles Connor After that it happened lots of places we played The girls would actually take their panties off and throw them at the bandstand A shower of panties White 2003 p 70 71 White 2003 pp 100 101 Moser 2007 p 137 Late Night with David Letterman Season 1 May 4 1982 NBC Tutti Frutti tops world changing hit list Breakingnews ie May 16 2007 Retrieved November 2 2017 Ring Trudy October 6 2017 Little Richard Once Gay Is Now Antigay Again The Advocate San Francisco California Here Media Retrieved April 9 2019 White 2003 p 1 White 2003 pp 187 189 Collier 1984 p 60 I used to have standards in my life and I lost all of that Collier 1984 p 60 I was one of the biggest cocaine addicts smoking it snorting it and whatever cocaine could do I did a b White 2003 p 188 White 2003 p 186 Little Richard Forsakes Rock n Roll For Religion Sarasota Herald Tribune August 17 1979 p 13 Retrieved January 4 2013 International Vegetarian Union Little Richard 1932 Little Richard Los Angeles Times June 29 1998 GOOD GOLLY LEGENDARY LITTLE RICHARD IS CALLING IT QUITS New York Post August 2 2002 White 2003 pp 203 214 Little Richard Weds 20 Couples Contactmusic com December 19 2006 Retrieved February 1 2013 Havers 2010 p 127 Fats Domino Makes Rare Concert Appearance abclocal go com 2009 Archived from the original on October 5 2013 Retrieved August 12 2013 a b Little Richard Tells Cee Lo About Recent Heart Attack Rolling Stone September 30 2013 Retrieved October 2 2013 Goldstein Patrick December 5 1986 LITTLE RICHARD HIGH ON JUDAISM PRINCE PROMOTES NEW PROTOGE South Florida Sun Sentinel Ivry Benjamin May 10 2020 He really is Jewish Little Richard s lifelong love affair with Judaism The Forward Friedman Gabe May 19 2020 Little Richard loved Judaism Southern New England Jewish Ledger Three Angels Broadcasting Network September 6 2017 Interview with Little Richard Archived from the original on October 28 2021 via YouTube Three Angels Broadcasting Network October 19 2017 Little Richard 2017 via YouTube Collin Dorsey October 7 2017 Little Richard s First TV News Interview in Over Two Decades Archived from the original on October 28 2021 via YouTube a b White 2003 p 219 Kirby 2009 p 192 Weekend of Legends Jambase com June 13 2008 Retrieved May 23 2014 Browne David May 9 2020 Little Richard Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers Dead at 87 Rolling Stone Retrieved May 9 2020 Greene Andy May 3 2016 Little Richard Denies Near Death Rumors I m Still Singing Rolling Stone Retrieved January 17 2017 Little Richard denies claims that he s clinging to life The Guardian May 4 2016 Retrieved April 22 2020 Architect of rock n roll Little Richard dies at age 87 Rolling Stone says Nationalpost National Post May 9 2020 Retrieved May 11 2020 Alaa Elassar May 9 2020 Play the keys among the stars now Celebrities pay tribute to Little Richard CTV News Ctvnews ca Retrieved May 11 2020 Cromelin Richard May 9 2020 Little Richard flamboyant rocker who fused gospel fervor and R amp B sexuality dies at 87 Los Angeles Times Retrieved May 9 2020 Goldstein Joelle Fernandez Alexia May 9 2020 Legendary Rock and Roll Musician Little Richard Died of Bone Cancer at 87 People Retrieved May 9 2020 Leopold Todd Little Richard dies Flamboyant rock legend was 87 Cnn com Retrieved May 11 2020 Bob Dylan pays moving tribute to Little Richard He was my shining star The Independent May 10 2020 Retrieved May 10 2020 Paul McCartney I owe a lot of what I do to Little Richard and his style The Irish News May 10 2020 Kreps Daniel May 9 2020 Mick Jagger Pays Tribute to Biggest Inspiration Little Richard Rolling Stone Browne David May 9 2020 John Fogerty Remembers Little Richard The Greatest Rock Singer of All Time Rolling Stone Kreps Daniel May 9 2020 Elton John on Little Richard A True Legend Icon and a Force of Nature Rolling Stone Spanos Brittany May 9 2020 Lenny Kravitz on Little Richard His Music Sounds Just as Fresh and Powerful Today Rolling Stone Grow Kory May 9 2020 John Waters on Little Richard He Was the First Punk He Was the First Everything Rolling Stone Hall Kristin May 15 2020 Little Richard to be buries at historically black college PBS NewsHour Retrieved September 25 2020 Little Richard Songwriters Hall of Fame www songhall org Retrieved May 9 2020 Gulla 2008 p 27 28 a b Campbell 2011 p 180 Campbell 2008 pp 168 169 Erlewine amp Harris 2020 Tutti Frutti 1955 Erlewine amp Harris 2020 Browne David May 9 2020 Little Richard Founding Father of Rock Who Broke Musical Barriers Dead at 87 Rolling Stone McArdle Terence May 9 2020 Little Richard flamboyant star of early rock and roll dies at 87 The Washington Post Retrieved May 9 2020 Little Richard Rock amp Roll Hall of Fame Campbell amp Brody 2007 p 115 Campbell amp Brody 2007 p 117 a b White 2003 p 231 White 2003 p 228 Sam Cooke Chart history Billboard Retrieved January 17 2017 Palmer 2011 p 139 Top 10 Greatest Little Richard Songs Of All Time Vote Now uDiscover Udiscovermusic com October 24 2017 Retrieved April 22 2020 Erlewine amp Harris 2020 Freedom Blues 1970 His influence is incalculable The Beatles learned their ecstatic falsetto shouts from him James Brown said he was the first to put the funk in rhythm In his yearbook Bob Dylan listed that his ambition was to join Little Richard and nine year old David Bowie bought a saxophone hoping to do that as well Lhamon W T 1985 Little Richard as a Folk Performer Studies in Popular Culture 8 2 7 17 ISSN 0888 5753 JSTOR 23412946 Little Richard Great Gosh A mighty Eagle Rock August 29 2008 Archived from the original on October 28 2021 Retrieved August 10 2009 via YouTube Gulla 2008 p 27 a b c My Music Matters A Celebration of Legends Luncheon National Museum of African American Music June 19 2015 Archived from the original on May 18 2015 Retrieved November 2 2017 White 2003 p 69 White 2003 pp 68 70 Simmons Sylvie August 2004 Last night a record changed my life Mojo No 129 p 30 Singh Anita April 22 2023 Little Richard King and Queen of Rock n Roll review celebrating a man who dared to be different The Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Retrieved April 23 2023 Jagger Dylan Quincy Jones react to death of Little Richard Associated Press The Associated Press May 9 2020 Retrieved October 29 2020 100 Greatest Singers 12 Little Richard Rolling Stone Merlis 2002 foreword Midstate residents who knew James Brown hope new movie gets it right The Telegraph July 26 2014 Archived from the original on July 27 2014 Retrieved August 17 2015 Gulla 2008 p 398 Guralnick 1999 pp 164 166 Collis 2003 foreword Shelton 2003 p 39 Murray 1989 p 39 Bob Seger Influences Archived from the original on November 17 2015 Retrieved December 20 2012 Margolis Lynne May 28 2013 John Fogerty The Extended Interview American Songwriter Retrieved August 12 2013 Herron Martin June 26 2009 Michael Jackson saved my life Scarborough Evening News Retrieved August 10 2009 Floridian Prince and the evolution Sptimes com Archived from the original on July 14 2004 Retrieved March 26 2012 Hudak Joseph December 3 2010 Little Richard 100 Greatest Singers Rolling Stone Retrieved August 17 2015 White 2003 pp 125 126 Ewbank 2010 p 55 Mulhern Tom July 1990 Paul McCartney Guitar Player Vol 24 no 7 p 33 Miles Barry 1998 Paul McCartney Many Years From Now Basingstoke England Palgrave Macmillan p 24 ISBN 978 0805052497 Harry 2002 p 509 Krerowicz Aaron March 14 2014 The Influence of Little Richard on the Beatles www aronkrerowicz com Retrieved January 17 2017 Beatles accept award Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 1988 Rock amp Roll Hall of Fame January 28 2010 Archived from the original on October 28 2021 Retrieved December 31 2012 via YouTube White 2003 p 227 Exclusive Interview John Kay of Steppenwolf Returns to Protect Wildlife and Human Rights John Kay doc pt1 Archived from the original on October 28 2021 via www youtube com Smoke lightning and heavy metal thunder John Kay and Steppenwolf ride into Windsor windsorstar Ewbank 2005 p 7 He also had an impact on the young Rod Stewart I remember trying to sound like Little Richard The Facts In The Early Life Of Robert Plant Society of Rock February 26 2020 Peter Wolf Interview Part 1 11 4 1984 Rock Influence Official Archived from the original on October 28 2021 via www youtube com White 2003 p 228 After hearing Little Richard on record I bought a saxophone and came into the music business Little Richard was my inspiration Doggett 2007 Blackwell 2004 p 65 when I saw Little Richard standing on top of the piano all the stage lights sequins and energy I decided then and there that I wanted to be a rock and roll piano player Hodkinson 2004 p 61 Male Andrew November 26 2013 Little Richard Lou Reed s Rock n roll Hero Mojo Retrieved February 10 2014 The New Inquiry Retrieved October 7 2013 a b White 2003 p 230 Jon Lord There would have been no Deep Purple if there had been no Little Richard a b Motorhead s Lemmy Says Little Richard Should Be Golden God ArtisanNewsService May 6 2009 Archived from the original on October 28 2021 Retrieved March 26 2012 via YouTube The Lost Malcolm Young Interview AC DC in 2003 Billboard November 20 2017 Retrieved December 28 2018 AC DC Guitarist Angus Young Remembers Bon Scott When I Think Back in Hindsight He Was A Guy That I Always Knew Was Full of Life Bravewords com Archived from the original on July 8 2011 Retrieved September 16 2012 Angus Young Retrieved December 20 2012 Jake 2013 p 37 Sanneh Kelefa December 3 2000 Rappers Who Definitely Know How to Rock The New York Times Caramanica Jon September 24 2003 Speakerboxxx The Love Below Rolling Stone Archived from the original on November 4 2007 Retrieved December 31 2012 Bruno Mars 99 reasons why he s the biggest pop star in the world National Post December 12 2012 Retrieved August 17 2015 Jennifer Drysdale March 14 2021 Bruno Mars Honours Little Richard In High Energy Musical Tribute At 2021 Grammys ETOnline com Bruno Mars Honors Little Richard in Musical Tribute at 2021 GRAMMYs Entertainment Tonight www etonline com Critic s Notebook Bruno Mars in Ascension The New York Times October 6 2010 Retrieved January 4 2013 Grunge Pioneer Chris Cornell Tries Neo Soul npr org Little Richard Penniman Boulevard MaconMusicTrail com Visit Macon Retrieved July 21 2020 Rocklist net Mojo Lists Retrieved March 4 2012 Little Richard Tutti Frutti Tops World Changing Hit List Contactmusic com May 16 2007 Retrieved August 10 2009 500 Greatest Albums Here s Little Richard Rolling Stone Archived from the original on April 8 2012 National Recording Preservation Board 2009 The Full National Recording Registry Library of Congress Archived from the original on November 8 2012 Retrieved December 29 2012 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Here s Little Richard Rolling Stone May 31 2012 Retrieved September 6 2019 100 Greatest Artists Little Richard Rolling Stone December 3 2010 Retrieved September 6 2019 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Rolling Stone April 7 2011 Retrieved September 6 2019 Experience The Music One Hit Wonders and The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2007 Archived from the original on May 9 2012 Retrieved December 17 2012 Little Richard Bestowed Honorary Degree at Mercer University WMAZ com May 11 2013 Archived from the original on August 12 2013 Retrieved May 11 2013 Little Richard s boyhood home to be moved Associated Press May 11 2013 Retrieved May 13 2013 State to buy Little Richard s house The Telegraph May 10 2013 Archived from the original on June 21 2013 Retrieved May 13 2013 Good golly DOT will relocate Little Richard s boyhood home 11alive com May 13 2013 Archived from the original on August 12 2013 Retrieved May 28 2013 Woman seeks to replace Confederate statue in downtown Macon with Little Richard 13WMAZ com Retrieved February 11 2019 Bruno Mars Honors Little Richard in Musical Tribute at 2021 GRAMMYs Entertainment Tonight Bruno Mars Honors Little Richard During Grammys In Memoriam Segment BET Lifetime Awards Grammy com August 5 2013 Archived from the original on August 12 2013 Retrieved August 5 2013 GRAMMY Hall of Fame Grammy org Archived from the original on January 22 2011 Retrieved December 31 2012 Little Richard Awards March 4 2013 R amp B Foundation Honors Little Richard Others Orlando Sentinel March 4 1994 Retrieved December 20 2012 Music Awards Show To Fete Little Richard Chicago Tribune January 3 1997 BMI ICON Awards Honor Three of Rock amp Roll s Founding Fathers bmi com June 30 2002 Retrieved August 12 2013 Hall of Fame Inductee Little Richard Variety com February 21 2002 Retrieved January 4 2013 Apollo s new legends inducted Caribbeanlifenews com Caribbean Life June 13 2012 Retrieved January 4 2013 Inductee Information to the Music City Walk of Fame Visitmusiccity com Retrieved September 18 2010 Little Richard 2009 Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Archived from the original on March 2 2015 Retrieved September 18 2010 Quincy Jones Patty LaBelle Gladys Knight and More Honored as New York s Apollo Theater Unveils Walk of Fame May 11 2010 Archived from the original on October 1 2012 Retrieved January 4 2013 Eric Clapton Little Richard and Tommy Brown named 2015 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees Classicalite February 24 2015 Retrieved April 5 2015 Timeline Photos Rhythm amp Blues Music Hall of Fame Museum Facebook Retrieved August 17 2015 Blaustein David August 1 2014 Will Get On Up Make You Stand Up and Cheer ABC News McCarver Mark August 1 2014 James Brown s biopic Get On Up takes huge risks with mixed results Baltimore Post Examiner These Are The Best Parts Of Get On Up The Huffington Post August 1 2014 Get on Up 2014 IMDb August 1 2014 Witheridge Annette August 2 2014 My mate the sex machine Mick Jagger on his movie about his inspiration James Brown Mirror Allaire Christian May 26 2022 How Alton Mason Channeled Little Richard at the Cannes Premiere of Elvis Vogue Retrieved September 25 2022 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Little Richard BFI Retrieved October 25 2017 Let the Good Times Roll 1973 Internet Movie Database July 19 1973 Retrieved October 1 2011 Bibliography Edit Bayles Martha 1996 Hole in Our Soul The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 03959 6 Blackwell Roger 2004 Brands That Rock What Business Leaders Can Learn from the World of Rock and Roll Google eBook John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 471 45517 2 Campbell Michael 2008 Popular Music in America The Beat Goes On First ed Cengage Learning ISBN 978 0 495 50530 3 Campbell Michael 2011 Popular Music in America The Beat Goes On Cengage Learning ISBN 978 0 840 02976 8 Campbell Michael Brody James 2007 Rock and Roll An Introduction Cengage Learning ISBN 978 0 534 64295 2 Chalmers Robert March 29 2012 GQ Legend Little Richard GQ Magazine Conde Nast Retrieved December 28 2016 Collier Aldore November 26 1984 Little Richard Tells Us How He Got What He Wanted But Lost What He Had Jet Vol 67 no 12 pp 60 63 ISSN 0021 5996 Collis John 2003 Ike Turner King of Rhythm Do Not ISBN 978 1 904316 24 4 Doggett Peter January 2007 Teenage Wildlife Mojo Classic Du Noyer Paul 2003 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music 1st ed London Flame Tree Publishing ISBN 978 1 904041 96 2 Erlewine Stephen Thomas Harris Keith May 9 2020 Little Richard 20 Essential Songs Rolling Stone Ewbank Tim 2010 Cliff An Intimate Portrait London Random House ISBN 978 0 7535 3610 0 Ewbank Tim 2005 Rod Stewart The New Biography Citadel Press ISBN 978 0 8065 2644 7 Gilliland John 1969 Big Rock Candy Mountain Rock n roll in the late fifties audio Pop Chronicles University of North Texas Libraries Guralnick Peter 1999 Sweet Soul Music Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom Back Bay Books ISBN 978 0 316 33273 6 OCLC 41950519 Gulla Bob 2008 Icons of R amp B and Soul An Encyclopedia of the Artists Who Revolutionized Rhythm ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 313 34044 4 Havers Richard 2010 The Golden Age of Rock n Roll Book Sales Inc ISBN 978 0 7858 2625 5 Harry Bill 2000 The Beatles Encyclopedia Revised and Updated London Virgin ISBN 978 0 7535 0481 9 Harry Bill 2002 The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia Virgin ISBN 978 0 7535 0716 2 Hodkinson Mark 2004 Queen The Early Years London Omnibus Press ISBN 978 1 84449 012 7 Jake Brown 2013 Ac Dc in the Studio John Blake Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 1 78219 677 8 Kirby David 2009 Little Richard The Birth of Rock n Roll Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 2965 0 Lauterbach Preston 2011 The Chitlin Circuit And the Road to Rock n Roll W W Norton amp Co p 153 ISBN 978 0 393 08225 8 Mahon Maurice 2004 Right to Rock The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race Duke University Press p 151 ISBN 978 0 8223 3317 3 McDermott John 2009 Ultimate Hendrix An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Live Concerts and Sessions BackBeat Books ISBN 978 0 87930 938 1 Merlis Bob 2002 Heart and Soul A Celebration of Black Music Style in America 1930 1975 Billboard Books ISBN 978 0 8230 8314 5 Miller Zell 1996 They Heard Georgia Singing Little Richard Richard Penniman Mercer University Press ISBN 978 0 86554 504 5 Moser Margaret 2007 Rock Stars Do The Dumbest Things Macmillan ISBN 978 1 4299 7838 5 Murray Charles 1989 Crosstown Traffic Jimi Hendrix and the Rock n Roll Revolution First US ed St Martin s Press ISBN 978 0 312 06324 5 Nite Norm N 1982 Rock on The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock N Roll Vol 1 The solid gold years Harper amp Row ISBN 978 0 06 181642 0 Otfinoski Steven 2010 African Americans in the Performing Arts Infobase Publishing ISBN 978 0 8160 7838 7 Palmer Robert 2011 Blues amp Chaos The Music Writing of Robert Palmer Simon and Schuster ISBN 978 1 4165 9974 6 Pegg Bruce 2002 Brown Eyed Handsome Man The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry An Unauthorized Biography Psychology Press ISBN 978 0 415 93748 1 Rodman Gilbert 1996 Elvis after Elvis the posthumous career of a living legend Psychology Press p 45 ISBN 978 0 415 11002 0 Ryan Marc 2004 Trumpet Records Diamonds on Farish Street University Press of Mississippi ISBN 978 1 61703 525 8 Shadwick Keith 2003 Jimi Hendrix Musician BackBeat Books ISBN 978 0 87930 764 6 Shelton Robert 2003 No Direction Home The Life and Music of Bob Dylan Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 81287 3 White Charles 1984 Tutti Frutti The life and times of Little Richard the quasar of rock New York Harmony Books ISBN 0517554984 Retrieved May 9 2020 White Charles 2003 The Life and Times of Little Richard The Authorized Biography Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 306 80552 3 Winn John 2008 Way Beyond Compare The Beatles Recorded Legacy Volume One 1957 1965 Random House Digital Inc ISBN 978 0 307 45157 6 Further reading EditBerry Jason 2009 Up from the Cradle of Jazz New Orleans Music since World War II University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press ISBN 978 1 887366 87 8 Bowman Rob 1997 Soulsville U S A The Story of Stax Records Schirmer Trade ISBN 978 0 8256 7284 2 OCLC 36824884 Brown Geoff 2002 Otis Redding Try a Little Tenderness Canongate U S ISBN 978 1 84195 316 8 Henderson David 2008 Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 1 4165 3434 1 Hinckley David 1995 The Rolling Stones Black amp White Blues Turner Publishing Inc ISBN 978 1 57036 150 0 MacDonald Ian 2005 Revolution in the Head The Beatles Records and the Sixties 3rd 2007 ed Chicago Review Press ISBN 978 1 55652 733 3 Weidman Rich 2011 The Doors FAQ All That s Left to Know about the Kings of Acid Rock Backbeat Books ISBN 978 1 61713 110 3 External links EditLittle Richard at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Data from Wikidata Little Richard at AllMusic Little Richard at IMDb Little Richard at Find a Grave Little Richard discography at Discogs Little Richard Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Little Richard interviewed on the Pop Chronicles 1969 Little Richard Booking Agency Portals Biography United States Rock music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Little Richard amp oldid 1153239493, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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